There will be no Israelis at all in the future Palestine, Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas said on Saturday during a meeting of the Arab League in Doha. That refers to both a military and civilian presence, he added.
The Arab League Monitoring Committee endorsed unilateral attempts to gain international recognition of a Palestinian state within 1967 borders at the United Nations this September, instructing the Palestinians not to return to the negotiating table.
“We will suspend for the moment the peace process until there is a willing partner” AFP quoted Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani as saying when he opened the session.
However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, U.S. President Barack Obama, the EU and the Quartet on the Middle East have called on the PA to return to negotiations rather than pursue unilateral action in order to achieve a lasting peace agreement.
Abbas said we are serious [about] our decision to use the U.N., referring to the Palestinians off-the-table aim to achieve recognition of a state, the BBC reported.
The Arab league said it supported the move, in which a Palestinian state within 1967 borders would become a full-fledged state.
This development weakens the prospect of a negotiated peace settlement between Israelis and Palestinians and aims to isolate Israel in international forums.
The U.N. General Assembly (UNGA) President Joseph Deiss said that the U.N. Security Council would need to recommend that the Palestinian entity become a member of the U.N. before the UNGA votes on it.
However, according to the Oslo Process, a Palestinian state will be realized after the completion of a Permanent Status Agreement, in which the Palestinians right to self-determination as well as a mutual recognition between the two states would exist.
Netanyahu outlined a vision for peace when he spoke at an AIPAC Conference and in Congress last week. In his speech, Netanyahu reiterated Israels desire to sit down and speak about the important issues with the Palestinians.
Yet, the fact that the PA recently united with Iran-backed Hamas, Netanyahu said, makes this process far more problematic. The new Palestinian government will provide a platform for the terrorist organization to espouse militant hatred of Israel and its aims to replace it with a Palestinian state.
Another mortar was launched from Hamas-controlled Gaza this weekend, totaling 329 so far this year, adding to Israels security concerns. It was the first attack in over a month and a half, coinciding with Egypts opening of the Gaza Rafah border crossing.
Analysts call the PAs unilateral moves a non-starter because even if the UNGA passes the resolution supporting recognition of a Palestinian state, the outstanding issues between Israel and the PA will remain unanswered.
Borders, water sharing, desalination efforts and economic cooperation are examples of issues that make the two parties intertwined and interdependent, despite recognition of a Palestinian state in name only.
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