NEXT month the Palestinian Authority will apply to the United Nations General Assembly for a higher status within the organization in a move that is sure to concentrate minds in corridors of power around the world. Last year, the Palestinians sought full UN membership in a direct challenge to the Obama White House. In the event, the Americans, with their permanent Security Council seat, blocked the move. Now, however, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is instead seeking an upgrade of Palestine's observer status to that of “non-member state”. This change can be granted by the 193-member UN General Assembly and requires no Security Council endorsement. Given the widespread support for Palestine among Third World nations, the positive outcome of the vote is a certainty. Nevertheless, Palestinian officials have said that they are looking for a “quality” majority, by which it is clear that they would really like EU states to back the proposal, rather than simply abstain. This desire is because what will be tabled in November is far more than a procedural maneuver. It is the start of a new drive to get the international community to seek to enforce the withdrawal of Israel from the territories it has occupied in contravention of international law since 1967. It does not matter that Israel, sure in the shelter of the United States, will continue to ignore any decision of the UN that does not suit it and, moreover, that it will continue to get away with such obduracy. What is important is that the Palestinians have turned again to the UN because it is clear that the peace process based on the Oslo Accord is going absolutely nowhere at present. The Israeli refusal to stop building illegal settlements on Palestinian land has, as Netanyahu well understands, made it totally impossible for Palestinian negotiators to stay at the peace talks table. This suits the Israelis fine because they don't actually want peace; they are doing too well out of the conflict, thanks to slavish and generous US support. However, when the UN General Assembly agrees to upgrade Palestine to “non-member state” status, a single word will have begun a profound change, which in time could impact hugely on Israel's US-backed refusal to negotiate. The majority of UN members is certain to recognize Palestine as a “state”. From this internationally acknowledged statehood will flow, in time, issues of sovereignty and international rights, the power to negotiate and agree bilateral and multi-lateral treaties, the membership of international organizations and the ability to have recourse to international justice. For sure none of this is going to happen the minute the General Assembly endorses Palestine's upgraded status. The Israelis and Washington will be busy telling anyone who will listen that the move is without meaning and completely invalid. However, the Abbas administration is quite right to be looking for a “quality” vote. If all EU countries, particularly France and the UK, support the motion, it might shock Washington at least into looking again to the peace process and demanding once more, this time with real financial menace, that the Israelis abandon their program of illegal settlement building on the Palestinian West Bank and in East Jerusalem.
