Ten reasons Palestine is right to bring its case to the UN

[bemildred]

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1. It restores the issue of Palestine from the back-burner to the world's biggest stage, without resort to violence.

The UN move has already compelled all relevant parties to the conflict to re-examine long-accustomed and long-stymied tactics and mindsets. From Netanyahu to Khaled Meshal, from the Quartet (the U.S., Russia, the UN and the European Union) to the Palestinian rank and file, from the settlements to Peace Now and J Street, alternatives to paralysis and permanent conflict are newly under study.

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8. The Palestinians' secret weapon I: Avigdor Lieberman.

Thus far, the foreign minister is the only senior official scheduled to represent Israel in New York during the deliberations next week. A year ago, in his last appearance before the United Nations, Lieberman effectively contradicted the Israeli line that Israel was ready for peace and that the process had been impeded solely by the Palestinians. Neither side was ready for peace, he told the General Assembly, declaring that an agreement was something that could take "a few decades."

9. The Palestinians' secret weapon II: The Settlers.

If any single element is likely to win sympathy for the Palestinian cause, it will be radical settlers, who have vowed to mark the UN resolution with widespread violence. A recent arson attack against a West Bank mosque has sharpened the concerns of both Israeli and PA security authorities.

Any such action may, in turn, restrict the Israeli government's freedom of action in retaliating against a UN move.

10. The Palestinians' secret weapon III: Benjamin Netanyahu.

As the UN deliberations near, the prime minister's statements have grown more defiant. His protestations that Israel's worsening relations with Egypt and Turkey have nothing to do with the Palestinian issue, have ensured that tensions with all three have become increasingly interrelated, both at home and abroad.

"There are those who think that everything would have been different, if we had only given in to the Palestinians," Netanyahu told the cabinet this week.

"Enough with the self-flagellation," he continued. Inverting the liturgy of confession on the imminent Jewish High Holidays, he declared "We have not become guilty, neither have we transgressed."

http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/a-special-place-in-hell/ten-reasons-palestine-is-right-to-bring-its-case-to-the-un-1.384256

[Jefferson23]

1. How this guy sleeps at night, I don't know:

"We have not become guilty, neither have we transgressed."

[bemildred]

2. I would guess he is not sleeping so well lately.

"Yon Cassius has a lean and hungry look; He thinks too much; such men are dangerous. "

[dtexdem]

3. Most important are reasons 2 and 4:

"2. It conveys the concept of Palestine as a nation, living alongside Israel as a member of the community of nations, acknowledging the primacy of the UN as a forum for state-to-state airing of disputes."

"4. The UN drive may confer international imprimatur to and raise the profile of Palestinian state-building efforts."