Israel should back a Palestinian state

[bemildred]

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Important as such considerations seem to US and European diplomats, it is hard to see why Palestinians should be overly impressed by political machinations in the west. The vast majority of UN members are ready to swing behind the claim to statehood. Everyone knows that Barack Obama’s threatened veto has more to do with a hostile Congress and with the president’s re-election campaign than with considerations of justice or statecraft.

Mr Blair has told Mr Abbas that if the Palestinians settle for a statement of principles from the Quartet in place of a UN vote, Mr Netanyahu will open serious negotiations. Given the Israeli prime minister’s record in these matters, and his aggressive expansion of illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied territories, the Palestinians cannot take such promises seriously.

The Arab uprisings may be redrawing the geopolitical map of the region, but Mr Netanyahu has kept his head firmly in the sand. He has launched a ferocious – I have heard one European foreign minister call it “menacing” – campaign against Mr Abbas’s diplomatic gambit.

The Israeli government is combining the threat of economic sanctions against West Bank Palestinians with warnings of violent unrest if Mr Abbas wins the UN argument. Mr Netanyahu must know he is playing with fire: in this part of the world incendiary language has a habit of becoming self-fulfilling.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/02874128-dedd-11e0-9130-00144feabdc0.html

[hack89]

1. Well, if it triggers a Hamas / PA civil war then there could be some benefit to Israel.

but there would be a high human cost to such an event. Hamas will not allow this - it is not in their best perceived interest.

[classysassy]

2. The wonderment of it all

We in America continue supporting a repressive Israeli government and wonder why the Arab/Muslim countries hate our guts.We scream about democracy and justice when we do just the opposite,we are hypocrites and the world realize that.