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There was a great show of support for the
Palestinians as they bid to upgrade their status at the United Nations.
But the move was also strongly opposed by Israel and the United States. After years of long, inconclusive negotiations, Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, asked the UN General Assembly to recognise the non-member state of Palestine in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. Abbas has been leading the campaign to win support for the resolution, and over a dozen European governments have offered him their support.
Over the past 60 years, there have been many attempts to achieve Palestinian statehood. In 1947, the partition resolution was adopted by the General Assembly, supporting an independent Jewish State and an independent Arab State; that was rejected by the Arabs. But In 1974, the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) was granted observer status at the UN - which it holds to this day - allowing it to take part in General Assembly sessions, without the right to vote. Then in 1988, the PLO unilaterally declared a State of Palestine at a meeting in Algeria. And in 1993 the Oslo Accord was signed in Washington; that created the Palestinian Authority and granted limited autonomy to the Palestinian territories. In 2003, the so-called Road Map was drafted by the Middle East quartet, stipulating the creation of a Palestinian state by 2005.
Both Israel and the US have rejected the most recent bid by Palestine to be recognised as a non-member observer state. Danny Ayalon, Israel's deputy foreign minister, said the bid is a "virtual move without any substance", while Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, said it would serve no purpose. . So, how would a new status at the UN help the Palestinians? How would they use their newfound status? And how would it affect future peace efforts? To discuss this Inside Story, with presenter Ghida Fakhry, is joined guests: Mahdi Abdel Hadi, the chairman of the Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs; Dan Schueftan, the director of the National Security Studies Center at the University of Haifa, and a visiting professor at Georgetown University; and Alexandre Vautravers, a professor of international relations at Webster University.
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Friday, November 30, 2012
Palestine: The meaning of a status upgrade While US and Israel oppose Palestinian bid for non-member statehood at UN, we ask how move could affect peace efforts. inSha
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