Beyond the UN vote: New futures for Palestine and Israel

The Israelis and Palestinians are not as far apart as experts make them out to be. All issues are resolvable if there is vision, intentionality and political will.

Saliba Sarsar
New Jersey News (Opinion)
December 7, 2012 - 12:00am
http://blog.nj.com/njv_guest_blog/2012/12/beyond_the_un_vote_new_futures.html

On Nov. 29, which marked the 65th anniversary of United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181, which called for partitioning British-mandate Palestine into independent Arab and Jewish states and a special international regime for the city of Jerusalem, the U.N. granted Palestine the status of a “nonmember observer state.”

The 138-9 vote, with 41 abstentions, pleased neither the United States nor Israel. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton regarded the vote as “unfortunate and counterproductive” toward peace. Israel’s Vice Prime Minister, Silvan Shalom, described the resolution as “meaningless” and the vote “a very big mistake” because it violated prior agreements Israel signed with the Palestinians.

In retaliation, a day after the vote, Israeli officials announced plans for 3,000 new housing units in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, as well as expanding the E1 settlement area. Such expansion would join the huge Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim to Jerusalem, further splitting the Palestinian territories.

While the vote gives a psychological and legal boost to the Palestinians and their leaders, especially on the West Bank, it does not change the facts on the ground, mainly the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands since June 1967. The change has to come from serious negotiations between the leaders of Palestine and Israel, preferably sooner than later... READ MORE