Palestinians Still Don't Want a State

[Mosby]

Last week’s attempt by the Palestinian Authority to obtain recognition from the United Nations Security Council has mostly disappeared from the world’s front pages. That is not true in Israel, though, where a new diplomatic war with the Palestinians is just taking shape.

As soon as the Palestinians lost the vote in the UN, Mahmoud Abbas announced that the Palestinian Authority would seek admission to the International Criminal Court.

-snip-

The ICC threat is worrisome to Israel for numerous reasons. By making alleged “war crimes” rather than the consistent Palestinian drive to destroy the Jewish State the subject of discussion, it allows the Palestinians to shape the narrative of the conflict in a way that does Israel great damage. It also means Israeli soldiers and commanders could be arrested and tried for war crimes when they travel abroad. In a tiny country in which travel abroad is, for many, virtually de rigueur, that is very worrisome. Netanyahu (who is running for re-election in a tight race) has vowed that he will not let it happen.

This reshaped conflict is precisely what Abbas wanted. Not only did he know he could not win the vote, but he apparently wanted it to fail. The version of the resolution France, Germany and the U.K. proposed stipulated that Palestine would be a nonmilitarized state; but the Palestinians put forward a draft that omitted that proviso, thus ignoring the issue of Israel’s security and ensuring an American veto.

Further indication that Abbas wanted the measure to fail was his timing. The Palestinians could have fared much better had they waited just a few days to bring the resolution to a vote.

http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-01-05/palestinians-want-to-join-international-criminal-court

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

1. Perhaps Israel could help the Palestinian state move forward, oh let's say,

by removing all of the illegal Israeli squatters in the West Bank?

Yes, I would be worried for Israel and any ICC judgement against it, but IMHO Israel will just continue with colonialism and apartheid regardless of any ruling against it...for now.

[oberliner]

2. They removed all of the illegal Israeli squatters in Gaza

That didn't seem to help much.

[shira]

3. Abbas doesn't want to negotiate when he feels he can get MORE by going to the UN.

There's no incentive to work out a peace agreement and 2 state solution when the International Community will allow him to get all he wants WITHOUT making peace.

All while demonizing and delegitimizing Israel.

What's worse is that the UN, major NGO's, and Media are more than happy to help the Palestinians in their war against the Jewish state.