Following the historical recognition by the Swedish government,
British legislators voted overwhelmingly on a non-binding resolution
urging their government to recognise the state of Palestine.
Ireland's Seanad and Spain's parliament passed similar motions on October 22 and November 18 respectively.
Sweden, the home of the Nobel Peace Prize, has positioned itself in
the forefront of European nations, who in time, would most likely follow
in its footsteps and recognise the state of Palestine.
On the other side of the Channel, the government of David Cameron has
a unique opportunity to heed British legislators and rectify a small
part of Britain's historical sin when its mandate power transformed
Palestine from a nation of over 90 per cent Muslim and Christian
majority into a new transplanted Jewish majority.
France's National Assembly has scheduled its resolution for November
28. A vote to take place almost 67 years to the day when 33 countries '“
mostly vassal states '“ passed a UN resolution in 1947 to divide
Palestine between its original inhabitants and Jewish immigrants.
Israeli ambassador to Ireland protested the European recognitions
calling it 'stunt gestures' providing an excuse to Palestinians 'who
hope to achieve their goals without talking directly with Israel'.
Unless the Israeli ambassador was addressing an extraterrestrial
horde, everyone on this planet knows that Palestinians have been
'talking directly with Israel' for at least 23 years. Starting in 1991
at the Madrid talks and 24 years after Israel occupied the West Bank,
Palestinians and Israelis have spent about one year of 'talking' for
every year of occupation.
If Israel genuinely believes that 'talking" is the best approach, why
wouldn't they give the international community a chance to talk more
with Iran instead of sanctions and threat of war?
Iran and the P5+1 have talked for less than one-seventh of that
between Palestinians and Israel. While negotiations with Iran were
conducted under a strict sanction regime, Israel used 'talking' to
create 'Jewish facts' on the ground rendering it impossible to
establish a viable Palestinian state.
Israeli leaders talk in vague terms about a two-state solution;
however, respective Israeli governments have refused to spell out
clearly the geographic location of such a state. In fact, many Israeli
leaders have advocated that Palestine was in Jordan.
According to David Horovitz of the Times of Israel, Benjamin
Netanyahu had made it 'explicitly' clear that he could 'never, ever,
countenance a full sovereign Palestinian state in the West Bank'.
Just days after American, Jordanian, Palestinian and Israeli leaders
met in Jordan to reduce current tension in Jerusalem, Israel issued new
permits to build more Jewish-only homes and Avigdor Lieberman, Israeli
foreign minister declared 'We won't accept any limitation on building'
in occupied East Jerusalem.
Washington reiterated, academically, its 'unequivocal' opposition to
new colonies in East Jerusalem. Interestingly while appeasing the
Palestinian Authority (PA) with lip services, the US on the other hand
provides Israel with the financial means and the political protection to
do the very things it 'unequivocally' condemns.
With Sweden's domino effect, and the pending resolution before the UN
Security Council to set a timetable to end Israeli occupation, the onus
remains on the PA to push further and request the International
Criminal Court (ICC) to adjudicate on Israeli violations of
international law.
Two years ago, the PA fumbled the UN recognition when it delayed
joining the ICC and used that small victory as a cover to justify a
return to the endless and aimless negotiations.
The PA should understand that recent international recognition is no
cause for another pause. Small successes are effective only if they are
used as part of a continuum towards achieving holistic objectives.
The PA must thrust forward to translate recognition into a reality or
allow the Palestinian street to 'negotiate' with Israel. There isn't
much to lose, but Israeli-issued VIP passes.
