September 23, 2011

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on
Friday formally presented U.N. Secretary General
Ban Ki-moon an application for Palestinian
membership as a state in the United Nations.

Today, Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian National Authority (PA) formally presented a historic bid to the United Nations to officially recognize Palestine as a state within the 1967 borders with full UN member benefits and state status throughout the international community. The bid comes at a pivotal moment as the region continues to go through dynamic changes from Tunisia to Syria. Whatever the outcome of the bid, the geopolitical, regional and global implications will be historic.

The bid was presented this morning to the UN General Assembly (GA), where the chance of approval is much higher for the Palestinians; the PA shied away from presenting the bid to the UN Security Council due to America’s threat of using their veto against the proposition. Whereas the Palestinians may truly see the bid come to fruition through the General Assembly, the pre-emptive talk of using the veto from the U.S. in the Security Council has been problematic.

The U.S. government has consistently supported the rights of citizens in the Middle East and North Africa, calling for change on the basis of freedom, democracy and human rights. Throughout the Arab Spring, American foreign policy has been that of support and encouragement for civil society to engage further to realize their potential in creating a government based on a consensus of the people. The problem with a U.S. vote against the Palestinian bid can be linked to America’s bias in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Abbas implored the GA to approve the proposal by paralleling their struggles with those of the Arab Spring revolutions.

“At a time when the Arab people affirm their quest for democracy in what is called now the Arab Spring, the time has come also for the Palestinian spring, the time of independence,” Abbas said.

In his speech to the GA on Sept. 21, President Barack Obama said, “peace will not come through statements and resolutions at the UN — if it were that easy, it would have been accomplished by now. Ultimately it is Israelis and Palestinians who must live side by side.”

If indeed statements and resolutions are not factors to attaining peace, then why was there such an issue for the U.S. to vote in favor of the bid should it have been presented in the Security Council?

Ultimately, the U.S. campaign to quell other Security Council states from voting in favor of the bid would have presented a real issue for America if it were the only state to vote against the proposition. By taking the statehood bid to the GA, the U.S. was relieved of having to be the only member to cast a vote against Palestinian self-determination. With strong condemnations of other regimes throughout the region — and especially calls for citizen’s rights to self-determination and self-governance — the US was in a position to lose credibility in a region where the Palestinian-Israeli issue is a hot topic.

Obama’s UN speech was disappointingly void of the plight of the Palestinians and their actions in taking a step in the right direction to become a recognized state so that entering negotiations with Israel would be on equal footing. In the end, formally recognizing a Palestinian state would be beneficial in the long run. As Obama reiterated at the UN, “we seek a future where Palestinians live in a sovereign state of their own, with no limit to what they can achieve. There is no question that the Palestinians have seen that vision delayed for too long. And it is precisely because we believe so strongly in the aspirations of the Palestinian people that America has invested so much time and effort in the building of a Palestinian state, and the negotiations that can achieve one.”

In this exciting and dynamic time, hopefully we can look to the future as a promising one where an Israel and Palestine can live peacefully side by side. To reach that goal, the approval of a Palestinian state is imperative.