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Monday, September 19, 2011

ATFP's Hussein Ibish: Last-minute deal could avert a collision course at the UN

http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/comment/last-minute-deal-could-avert-a-collision-course-at-the-un?pageCount=0
Sept 20, 2011

The insistence by the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that he will present a request for full UN membership for Palestine in its 1967 borders to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at the General Assembly meeting later this week - although telegraphed months in advance - has sent shock waves through international relations, and Israeli and US domestic politics as well.

Mr Abbas could have announced that he had already submitted this letter and that it is a fait accompli. Instead, he gave world leaders another week to act. So far Israel, the United States, the European Union and the Middle East Quartet have provided him with virtually nothing he can present to the Palestinian public as a plausible alternative.

Renewed negotiations, a new framework for talks or a statement clearly outlining the contours of a two-state solution might have sufficed. None of these have been forthcoming, but the window of opportunity is still open.

There are genuine reasons of state for this Palestinian move, no matter how risky and even potentially disastrous it might prove....READ MORE

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