The Long Overdue Palestinian State
By MAHMOUD ABBAS
May 17, 2011″NY Times” – Ramallah, West Bank — SIXTY-THREE years ago,
a 13-year-old Palestinian boy was forced to leave his home in the
Galilean city of Safed and flee with his family to Syria. He took up
shelter in a canvas tent provided to all the arriving refugees. Though
he and his family wished for decades to return to their home and
homeland, they were denied that most basic of human rights. That
child’s story, like that of so many other Palestinians, is mine.
This month, however, as we commemorate another year of our expulsion –
which we call the nakba, or catastrophe – the Palestinian people have
cause for hope: this September, at the United Nations General
Assembly, we will request international recognition of the State of
Palestine on the 1967 border and that our state be admitted as a full
member of the United Nations.
Many are questioning what value there is to such recognition while the
Israeli occupation continues. Others have accused us of imperiling the
peace process. We believe, however, that there is tremendous value for
all Palestinians – those living in the homeland, in exile and under
occupation.
It is important to note that the last time the question of Palestinian
statehood took center stage at the General Assembly, the question
posed to the international community was whether our homeland should
be partitioned into two states. In November 1947, the General Assembly
made its recommendation and answered in the affirmative. Shortly
thereafter, Zionist forces expelled Palestinian Arabs to ensure a
decisive Jewish majority in the future state of Israel, and Arab
armies intervened. War and further expulsions ensued. Indeed, it was
the descendants of these expelled Palestinians who were shot and
wounded by Israeli forces on Sunday as they tried to symbolically
exercise their right to return to their families’ homes.
Minutes after the State of Israel was established on May 14, 1948, the
United States granted it recognition. Our Palestinian state, however,
remains a promise unfulfilled.
Palestine’s admission to the United Nations would pave the way for the
internationalization of the conflict as a legal matter, not only a
political one. It would also pave the way for us to pursue claims
against Israel at the United Nations, human rights treaty bodies and
the International Court of Justice.
Our quest for recognition as a state should not be seen as a stunt;
too many of our men and women have been lost for us to engage in such
political theater. We go to the United Nations now to secure the right
to live free in the remaining 22 percent of our historic homeland
because we have been negotiating with the State of Israel for 20 years
without coming any closer to realizing a state of our own. We cannot
wait indefinitely while Israel continues to send more settlers to the
occupied West Bank and denies Palestinians access to most of our land
and holy places, particularly in Jerusalem. Neither political pressure
nor promises of rewards by the United States have stopped Israel’s
settlement program.
Negotiations remain our first option, but due to their failure we are
now compelled to turn to the international community to assist us in
preserving the opportunity for a peaceful and just end to the
conflict. Palestinian national unity is a key step in this regard.
Contrary to what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel asserts,
and can be expected to repeat this week during his visit to
Washington, the choice is not between Palestinian unity or peace with
Israel; it is between a two-state solution or settlement-colonies.
Despite Israel’s attempt to deny us our long-awaited membership in the
community of nations, we have met all prerequisites to statehood
listed in the Montevideo Convention, the 1933 treaty that sets out the
rights and duties of states. The permanent population of our land is
the Palestinian people, whose right to self-determination has been
repeatedly recognized by the United Nations, and by the International
Court of Justice in 2004. Our territory is recognized as the lands
framed by the 1967 border, though it is occupied by Israel.
We have the capacity to enter into relations with other states and
have embassies and missions in more than 100 countries. The World
Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the European Union have
indicated that our institutions are developed to the level where we
are now prepared for statehood. Only the occupation of our land
hinders us from reaching our full national potential; it does not
impede United Nations recognition.
The State of Palestine intends to be a peace-loving nation, committed
to human rights, democracy, the rule of law and the principles of the
United Nations Charter. Once admitted to the United Nations, our state
stands ready to negotiate all core issues of the conflict with Israel.
A key focus of negotiations will be reaching a just solution for
Palestinian refugees based on Resolution 194, which the General
Assembly passed in 1948.
Palestine would be negotiating from the position of one United Nations
member whose territory is militarily occupied by another, however, and
not as a vanquished people ready to accept whatever terms are put in
front of us.
We call on all friendly, peace-loving nations to join us in realizing
our national aspirations by recognizing the State of Palestine on the
1967 border and by supporting its admission to the United Nations.
Only if the international community keeps the promise it made to us
six decades ago, and ensures that a just resolution for Palestinian
refugees is put into effect, can there be a future of hope and dignity
for our people.
Mahmoud Abbas is the chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization
and the president of the Palestinian National Authority.
From: A. Papazian