BICOM

According to a report in the Jerusalem Post, EU governments are in dialogue with the Palestinian Authority in order to moderate the text of planned UN General Assembly resolution that will upgrade the status of ‘Palestine’ from ‘observer entity’ to ‘non-member state’. The report claims that steps are being taken by European diplomats to avert a major confrontation between Israel and the PA, including the possibility of a side letter whereby the PA would commit to not exercising the right of other recognised states to bring actions against Israel in the International Criminal Court.

Addressing the House of Commons on Tuesday, Foreign Secretary William Hague said that in the judgment of the UK government, the Palestinian’s UN bid, ‘would be more likely to retard efforts to restart the peace process than to advance them.’ There are fears that if the ICC were to extend jurisdiction to Palestine as a state, it would pitch Israelis and Palestinians into a series of legal confrontations which would undermine prospects for a return to negotiations.

Meanwhile US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has reportedly asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to take any extreme measures in response to the Palestinian move, including annulling the Oslo Accords or building in the E1 area in the West Bank between Jerusalem and Ma’ale Adumim. In private meetings with other heads of state, Netanyahu has reportedly pointed out the inconsistency in Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s claim for statehood, when Abbas has no control over the Gaza Strip, which is a significant portion the Palestinians claim for a state.

In a related development, however, observers have noted the warmer sentiments exchanged between Abbas and Hamas Prime Minister Haniyeh, in the wake of the recent conflict. All previous attempts to reconcile the two Palestinian factions have failed.