Comment and Opinion
Telegraph: Palestinian status all very well, but this won’t resolve core issues, by David Blair
“Today, he looks won a genuine diplomatic victory at the United Nations for a people who have become the perennial underdog of world affairs.
This is all the sweeter because of the timing. Mr Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, chose to present his application on the 65th anniversary of the UN resolution of Nov 29 1947 that partitioned the Holy Land between Jewish and Arab states, paving the way for Israel’s birth.
Mr Abbas seized his opportunity to mobilise the countries that support the Palestinian cause. They are many and varied, but often powerless. None can remotely compete with the United States and its solid backing for Israel.
Yet in a forum as egalitarian as the General Assembly, where each country has one vote regardless of population or power, the numbers matter. Of the UN’s 193 members, 132 already recognise a ‘state’ of Palestine, so the outcome is not in doubt.”