BICOM

Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations, Ron Prosor, and Palestinian Observer to the UN, Riyad Mansour yesterday expressed sharply differing opinions regarding a Palestinian unilateral bid for statehood. The exchange between the two took place at the UN Security Council, during a regular discussion of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Prosor reiterated Israel’s opposition to a Palestinian unilateral move, stressing that there was no alternative to a return to negotiations. ‘Unilateral actions will not bring peace to our region. The Palestinian initiatives at the United Nations may be superficially attractive to some. Yet, they distract from the true path to peace. There are no shortcuts to statehood. You cannot bypass the only path to peace. The Palestinians will have to get off the bandwagon of unilateralism – and back to the hard work of direct peacemaking,’ Prosor said.

In his speech Prosor also noted internal disagreement in the Palestinian leadership to the UN unilateral path, alluding to earlier statements of opposition made by PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and Nabil Amr, a member of the Palestinian Liberation Organization Central Council. Mansour, meanwhile, said that a Palestinian bid for international recognition of a unilateral declaration of statehood would help, rather than hinder, the peace process. He contended that the ‘consecration’ of the two state solution within international resolutions, including a recognition of a Palestinian state, would help to make this outcome ‘inevitable.’

It is still not entirely clear what the Palestinians will propose before the UN General Assembly in September. The United States opposes the Palestinian move toward unilateralism, and has made clear that it would use its veto in the Security Council to block formal recognition of Palestinian statehood. The Palestinians already have ‘observer’ status at the UN. The original plan was to seek UN endorsement of a Palestinian state on the 1967 lines, with its capital in east Jerusalem. US opposition to this, however, as well as a lukewarm response to it from major European countries, has led to speculation that the Palestinians may instead seek a more limited upgrade to ‘non-member state’ status. This would require only General Assembly approval and would hence reduce the possibility of a crisis in relations between the Palestinians and the US. At the same time, the impact of such a move would be limited.