Legal opinion challenges PLO statehood bid

[Jefferson23]

Palestinians risk losing their rights under the new bid, as representation is called into question, legal expert says.


A legal opinion highlighting the challenges and risks facing the Palestinian people in their quest for statehood has been obtained by Al Jazeera, in the lead up to the Palestinian Liberation Organisation's bid at the United Nations in September.

The opinion, written by Guy Goodwin-Gill, a professor of public international law at Oxford University and a member of the legal team representing Jordan's government in 'The Wall' case against Israel at the International Court of Justice in 2004, tackles the issues of Palestinian rights, representation, and the right of return, which may all be seriously affected by the outcome of the bid.

Al Jazeera's Nour Samaha conducted an interview with Professor Goodwin-Gill to get a clearer picture of the dangers the Palestinian people may potentially face with the bid. His entire legal judgment on the problems with the current Palestinian bid for statehood can be accessed here.

in full: http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/08/2011825222044579764.html

[dtexdem]

1. I'm not sure the Continental Congress bid to create a state can pass legal muster.

And a confederation of former colonies falls short of meeting the internationally agreed criteria of statehood.

[Igel]

8. Of course.

That's the kind of utterance that must make the Society for Creative Anachronism really glad they put "creative" in their name, ensuring avoidance of any risk of being associated with banal anachronism.

[bemildred]

2. Damn, they could lose everything.

:sarcasm:

[Jefferson23]

3. Palestinian youth in Gaza skeptical about PA’s UN bid

Young Palestinians are skeptical of any political “solution” that doesn’t address the refugees’ right of return.

Along with several other bloggers and activists in the Gaza Strip, I was recently invited to take part in a short video about young Palestinians’ reaction to the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) bid to have the United Nations admit a Palestinian “state” as a full member of the international body this September.

As each participant was being assigned a role in the video, an argument erupted among the four of us over who should speak in favor of the Palestinian Authority’s move. We discovered, to the producer’s amazement, we were all flatly against it.

This might have just been a coincidence. Only a few days earlier, however, I was awoken up by my new wild ringtone. As I answered my phone, I was asked by a journalist from Germany’s Deutsche Welle television to give an interview on the same issue. As I arrived at the arranged meeting place, another blogger was already giving her answers to the interviewer. She was unequivocally critical of the PA’s “disastrous history” and its “unending series of flops.” She argued that UN recognition of a Palestinian state would be just one more chapter in that sad history.

Of course it is hard to generalize from two incidents but they do offer some insight that a large segment of Palestinians believe they have been entirely and overtly marginalized by the PA’s unconcealed monopoly of Palestinian political decision-making.

Still, this does not mean that the PA’s move does not have any support in Gaza — there are Palestinians who support the PA and they are numerous.

in full: http://electronicintifada.net/content/palestinian-youth-gaza-skeptical-about-pas-un-bid/10284

[tritsofme]

4. Point is moot, the bid will fail. nt

[provis99]

5. Independence is gained by the power of the gun, not legal chicanery.

If Palestine met every legal criteria in the world and declared independence, it wouldn't mean shit, as long as Palestine is occupied by Israel.

[Jefferson23]

6. I believe his concern is that the issue of right of return may be compromised.

I don't get the impression he is naive about the struggle to even get a two state agreement that
provides a viable state for the Palestinians. Understanding of the legality has its place imo.

[Jefferson23]

7. It's time for all Palestinians to be heard

Palestinian leaders lack electoral legitimacy, partly because the Palestinian diaspora has no say

The Oslo Accords concentrated power in the hands of Palestinians based in the West Bank and Gaza


The Palestinians have big decisions to make. Their national movement has followed a singular trajectory for decades but now they are at a historic juncture. Yet they lack representative leaders who are capable of steering them ably into the future. That is because no Palestinian currently commands the weighty authority of electoral legitimacy.

Consequently, the Palestinians must conduct new Palestinian National Council (PNC) elections at the soonest practicable date. Furthermore, those elections must be conducted across the Palestinian communities around the world.

1948 witnessed the creation of one of the world's few scattered national movements. The Nakba - Arabic for "catastrophe" - was orchestrated by Jewish paramilitaries and resulted in the ethnic cleansing of Palestine. More than 750,000 native refugees fled and were dispersed from their homes when the Jewish state was established.

The Palestinians quickly overcame their geographical isolation from one another to begin rebuilding their national institutions. Representation for all Palestinians - both internally and externally displaced refugees, along with the Palestinians who remained in their villages - was one of their earliest goals. All agreed that the Palestinians everywhere ought to have a say in how their collective struggle to reclaim their homes and lands would be conducted.

The PNC was formed to represent the isolated Palestinian communities around the world. As the legislative body of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which was created in 1964, it continues to be responsible for electing the members of the Executive Committee. The Executive Committee, in turn, is the leadership of the Palestinian people both in Palestine and in the Diaspora.

The PLO's broad status as the sole, legitimate leadership of the Palestinian people began to change with the Oslo process. The Accords concentrated power in the hands of a few who took the West Bank and Gaza as their geographical locus.

Over time, the Palestinian Authority, which was one of Oslo's outgrowths, supplanted the PLO as the decision-making body. By doing so, it effectively severed vast segments of the Palestinian people from their sole form of representation. Negotiators learned to stop thinking about the rights and needs of the Palestinians in the refugee camps in Lebanon and in Syria, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Israel and around the world. Instead, they focused solely on the Palestinians in the Occupied Territories. A kind of parochialism took root.

The current Palestinian national leadership is far from representative, and the decisions it takes are taken blindly. In Ramallah, 5 million roaring Diaspora voices barely make an audible register. There are no consequences for ignoring their demands.

remainder: http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/08/2011821111840746309.html