BICOM

Media reports suggest that although Israel, the United States and the UK all remain opposed to the Palestinian Authority (PA) initiative to secure ‘non-member state’ recognition at the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, all three governments are looking at ways to mitigate the negative impact of the resolution passing.

The UN General Assembly is almost certain to approve a resolution on Thursday which will recognise the Palestinian delegation as representatives of a ‘non-member state,’ with the PA having secured overwhelming support from countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Arab world. The PA has threatened in the past to use the recognition of Palestine as a state at the UN as a basis to confront Israel in international legal forums. The governments of Israel, UK and the United States have repeatedly expressed their opposition to the initiative and the Independent this morning reports that Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt has reiterated that the UN initiative will likely prove to be financially damaging to the Palestinians, saying “We just don’t believe it’s the right time.”

However, Haaretz reports that Israel and the United States are focusing attention on softening the wording of the resolution, given that PA President Mahmoud Abbas is determined to push through the vote. Apparently, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s representative, Yitzhak Molho, left for Washington on Sunday to meet with senior White House and State Department officials. According to the report, Israel will demand that if the resolution passes, the Palestinians do not ask for the International Criminal Court in the Hague to extend its jurisdiction to Palestine, which would allow them to pursue criminal proceedings against Israelis. In addition, Israel wants a Palestinian commitment to return to direct talks without preconditions and a pledge that the resolution is purely symbolic. Israel is still likely to take retaliatory measures after the vote, but is not expected to take ‘irreversible’ which might bring about the collapse of the Palestinian Authority.

Meanwhile, the Financial Times reports that the UK may now support the resolution, but only if similar conditions are guaranteed by the Palestinian leadership, plus a pledge that a similar vote will not be sought at the UN Security Council. The article quotes an unnamed Foreign Office official saying, “We want to get behind the Palestinian moderates and strengthen their hand.”