This write-up first appeared in the Tuesday, 4th December edition of the Daily Greater Kashmir
In a
historic vote, on Thursday 29th of November 2012, Palestine won its bid
at the UN to upgrade its status from ‘entity’ to ‘non-member state’! This was exactly 65 years after the erstwhile British
Mandate of Palestine was divided into a Jewish state and an Arab state vide UN
resolution 181. After Thursday’s vote, Palestine became the 194th
‘state’ to have, at least, this status. While most of the nations of the world
voted in favour of the bid, The Vatican (also a non-Member Observer state)
hailed the UN resolution. While as countries like China, South Africa and
Pakistan co-sponsoring the draft resolution, the response of the US-Israel axis
has been, expectedly, unruly. Though, in essence, this up gradation won’t bring
about any drastic changes but it is a 2nd moral & symbolic
victory in a row for the Palestinian people within ten days. Apart from the
change in seating arrangement of the Palestinian UN representative, who will
now sit beside the Pakistani representative ( as per alphabetical order) in the
Permanent members benches, the changes which this upgradation might bring can
be discussed under the following heads.
Related to Palestine itself: “Not much
will change on ground” as the Israeli government was quick to react. The
Palestinian diaspora will still require permits from Israel to visit their
homeland. The collection of revenue and taxes, as presently done by the Israeli
govt., will still be done by the Israeli govt. The capital of the Palestine,
Jerusalem, will continue to be held by Israel. However, it will give
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas the much needed political life saver,
particularly after the rival Hamas gained immense popularity (and legitimacy)
in the International circles during the Israeli attack last week. Hamas, which
is deemed a terrorist organization by both Israel and the US, gained political
leverage over Abbas’s Fatah due to the visit of high profile Arab leaders like
The Emir of Qatar, Egyptian PM as well as the Turkish FM and had given Abbas a
reason to worry. Abbas can now triumphantly come back to Palestine with
something to cheer about.
Apart
from this, the only appreciable change
which this up gradation has brought is that it has enabled Palestine to seek
membership of the different UN bodies and possibly strengthen its bid for the
membership as a ‘state’ in the International Criminal Court (ICCt), which is
not a UN body. However, it is highly unlikely that the Palestinian Authority
(PA) will go to the ICCt to demand investigations into war crimes and
assassinations orchestrated by successive Israeli governments. The European
Union is the major contributor of international aid to Palestine and most of
the European countries have warned the PA against dragging Israel to the ICCt,
lest they stop the aid. Besides, the US has also warned to terminate all
assistance to the PA should they go to the ICCt. The US has also legislated
that it would close the Palestinian office in Washington unless Palestine resumes
‘meaningful dialogue’ with Israel, which stands stalled since 2005!
Related to Israel: Israel is going to polls in
January 2013 and, I guess, this issue is definitely going to affect the results
in a big way. This up gradation seems to undo whatever political mileage
Benjamin Netanyahu had gained after bombarding Gaza last week. It was widely
expected that the attack on Gaza would tilt the political balance largely in
his favour but now the UN vote may affect his prospects in the coming
elections. This was evident from his reaction to the UN decision which he
termed as ‘not conforming to peace’. The rival Israeli politicians have already
begun targeting Netanyahu for his supposedly weak policies. Former Israeli Foreign
Minister Tzipi Livni who marked a re-entry into Politics with the launch of her
own political party termed the Palestinian bid at the UN as a ‘strategic
terrorist attack’ despite her being a vocal supporter of the two state solution
to the Palestine issue.
Notwithstanding
all these factors, this up gradation can be welcomed as a small yet significant
step forward towards the settling of the Palestinian issue. After all,
Switzerland also existed as a non-Member Observer State at the UN, for 50
years, till 2002!
