Palestinians warn: back UN statehood bid or risk boosting Hamas
The Palestinian leadership is warning Europe and the US that failure to support its bid for statehood at the United Nations on Thursday will further strengthen Hamas after the Gaza fighting by suggesting that violence, rather than diplomacy, is the way to win concessions from Israel.
Senior Palestinian officials believe the vote is a crucial test of whether there is a future for President Mahmoud Abbas's diplomatic strategy after his credibility was badly damaged among Palestinians by what they regard as the success of Hamas in the conflict with Israel this month.
Many ordinary Palestinians believe the conflict showed that standing up to Israel delivers results, in contrast to years of concessions under US peace plans, and drawn-out negotiations. European diplomats concede that the fighting has shifted the ground before the Palestinian request for recognition as a "non-member state". Failure to support Abbas could risk further undermining his increasingly weak position, to Hamas's advantage, they warn.
France has said it will vote in favour, and Spain is shifting in that direction. But the US and Britain are attempting to weaken the impact of a UN vote in support of statehood by putting considerable pressure on the Palestinian leadership to offer guarantees that it will not take advantage of the new status to accuse Israel of war crimes at the international criminal court (ICC) or seek territorial rulings at the international court of justice.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/nov/27/palestinians-un-statehood-bid-hamas
And from the G&M
Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his government have intervened to pressure the Palestinian Authority to drop its bid for upgraded status at the United Nations, further cementing Canada’s transition into one of Israel’s firmest allies.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, rebuffed in an attempt last year to have the 15-member UN Security Council recognize a Palestinian state, on Thursday is planning to ask all countries at the UN to approve Palestinian status as a non-member observer state on Thursday – a bid Israel staunchly opposes.
Eight weeks ago, when he was in New York to accept an award from a private organization, Mr. Harper took a drive across the city as countries assembled for the opening of the new session of the UN General Assembly to have a short, brusque meeting with Mr. Abbas.
In a little room at the United Nations, Mr. Harper skipped most of the pleasantries in a 15-minute meeting, according to sources briefed on the session, and told Mr. Abbas he had come to deliver a message: If you keep doing what you’re doing, he said – referring to the Palestinian bid for upgraded status – “there will be consequences.”
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/harper-took-steps-to-stifle-palestinian-statehood-bid/article5655676/?cmpid=rss1
