Thousands rally in Ramallah to back Palestinian statehood bid: Haaretz
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to present formal request to UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Friday.
By Avi Issacharoff, Anshel Pfeffer,
Thousands of Palestinians flocked to Yasser Arafat Square in central Ramallah on Wednesday for a rally in support of the Palestinian bid for full United Nations membership.
The square was dominated by a huge sign with the words “UN 194” on it, in reference to the Palestinian attempt to become the 194th member state of the international body. The sign was flanked by portraits of former Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, and his successor Mahmoud Abbas, who will on Friday formally submit the Palestinian request to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
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Many of the crowd waved large Palestinian flags or carried banners either in support of UN membership, or condemning a likely U.S. veto should the issue come before the Security Council for a vote.
A handful of youth burned an American flag, but were sharply told off by other spectators.
A child waves Palestinian flags during a rally in Ramallah to support Mahmoud Abbas’ bid for Palestinian statehood at the UN, September 21, 2011.Reuters
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Abbas’ Fatah party had called on all its members to attend the rally, and the Palestinian Authority had attempted to boost attendance by closing schools for the day and allowing civil servants to attend during office hours.
Q&A: Haaretz Editor in Chief Aluf Benn on the Palestinian statehood bid. Click here to submit your question.
At the Qalandiya checkpoint north of Jerusalem, dozens of young Palestinians threw stones at IDF forces. The IDF dispersed the stone throwers with the “Scream” device, which releases sound waves.
In Hebron, there were reports of friction between demonstrators and the IDF after Palestinian police lost control of the situation.
In accordance with prior agreements reached between Israel and the PA, demonstrators are not being permitted to approach areas under Israeli control.
The U.S. and Israel oppose the Palestinian bid, arguing that Palestinian statehood should be the result of negotiations. Ordinary Palestinians have expressed concerns about the repercussions of the move; some say they worry about retaliation, such as a tightening of travel restrictions by Israel or a cut in U.S. aid.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also departed for New York on Tuesday, and is set to deliver a speech to the General Assembly on Friday.
The U.S. has pressed Israel not to sanction the Palestinians for their efforts to achieve statehood. On Wednesday, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman denied that he had threatened to break up Netanyahu’s coalition if the prime minister did not punish the Palestinians for their statehood aspirations.
Erdogan plays Palestinian saviour, but what about the Kurds?: Guardian
Turkey’s prime minister is championing Abbas’s UN appeal – yet still has to resolve the Kurdish issue back home
Simon Tisdall
A Kurdish demonstration in Istanbul this month, calling for the release of the jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan. Photograph: Tolga Bozoglu/EPA
Turkey’s noisy championing of Palestinian rights, a source of growing friction with the US and Israel, jars uncomfortably with Ankara’s treatment of its own disadvantaged and stateless minority – the Kurds. Bomb attacks this week in Ankara, blamed on Kurdish PKK militants, highlight the deteriorating internal security situation and stoke fears that Turkey’s troubles could spill over into Syria and Iraq, further aggravating Arab spring instability.
Apparently oblivious to possible double standards, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s prime minister, has been in voluble form of late. His tour last week of Egypt, Libya and Tunisia played upon a common theme – Turkey’s support for the justified aspirations of oppressed peoples everywhere. Erdogan’s long-running feud with Israel over its treatment of the Palestinians reached new heights when he warned the Turkish navy might escort future relief flotillas to Gaza.
Alarmed at the implications for US interests, Barack Obama took time at the UN in New York on Tuesday to talk Erdogan down, stressing their shared interest in peaceful, negotiated outcomes in Palestine, Syria and elsewhere. Turkey is a leading backer of President Mahmoud Abbas’s bid for UN recognition of Palestinian statehood. Obama, flanked by Israel’s Binyamin Netanyahu, desperately hopes to shove this uncomfortable issue back in the freezer.
The US also wants to head off renewed ground incursions targeting PKK bases in Iraq, as threatened last week by a senior Turkish minister, given obvious security concerns surrounding the US troop withdrawal. Rising tensions over disputed gas fields off Cyprus are adding to Washington’s worries at a time when, to put it mildly, the Greek government and its Greek Cypriot allies are not in the best shape.
Unfortunately for the majority of Turkey’s Kurds who want a peaceful settlement, one consequence of resulting American appeasement of Ankara is likely to be ever closer US co-operation with Turkey’s escalating military operations against the PKK. Like the EU, the US lists the PKK as a terrorist organisation, a categorisation passionately disputed by the main Kurdish national party, the BDP, which describes it as a “resistance” group. Washington already provides military satellite intelligence to Ankara. Now there is renewed talk of a Turkish base for US Predator drones, which the Turks want to target the PKK inside Iraq.
Erdogan has made important efforts to resolve the Kurdish issue, notably via the so-called “democratic opening” that included talks with the jailed PKK leader, Abdullah Ocalan. For their part, the PKK and Kurdish political parties have renounced their former separatist agenda. But gains have been limited, hardliners on both sides have obstructed the process, and Erdogan’s attention has shifted to the wider stage of Arab emancipation and the “re-Ottomanisation”, as some call it, of the Middle East. For him, it seems, the role of grand regional rainmaker is more alluring than that of down-home, hard-slog peacemaker.
The Kurdish parties are still trying to get his attention. The BDP’s woefully under-reported congress in Ankara earlier this month produced an eight-point protocol or “road map” for what it called a democratic resolution; and it proposed resumed talks as a matter of urgency. “All identities, cultures, languages and religions must be protected by the constitution. As a basic principle there must be a constitutional nationality that is not founded on ethnicity,” it said.
“The right to speak in the mother tongue – including in public – must be universally protected by the constitution. Education in the mother tongue language must be recognised as a fundamental right … There must be a transition to a decentralised administration. With regards to autonomy, local, provincial and regional councils must have more powers,” a BDP summary of the protocol said.
This is hardly an earth-shaking or revolutionary agenda. It is a far cry from the forfeited dream of an independent state spanning south-east Turkey, north-western Iran and parts of Syria and Iraq. And as the International Crisis Group notes in a report published this week, the acceptance of universal rights should not be regarded as a concession by the Turkish government.
The ICG report argues persuasively that the basis for a negotiated, peaceful settlement remains in place despite an upsurge in violence since June’s elections that has claimed more than 100 lives. “The PKK must immediately end its new wave of terrorist and insurgent attacks, and the Turkish authorities must control the escalation with the aim to halt all violence. A hot war and militaristic tactics did not solve the Kurdish problem in the 1990s and will not now,” the ICG says.
It continues: “The Turkish Kurd nationalist movement must firmly commit to a legal, non-violent struggle within Turkey, and its elected representatives must take up their seats in parliament, the only place to shape the country-wide reforms that can give Turkish Kurds long-denied universal rights. The Turkish authorities must implement radical judicial, social and political measures that persuade all Turkish Kurds they are fully respected citizens.”
Surely this is not so hard to do? It’s time Erdogan stopped playing Palestinian saviour and put Turkey’s problems first.
What would Palestinian statehood mean?: Guardian
Mahmoud Abbas’s appeal to the UN to recognise Palestine has dominated the agenda. What are its implications?
Harriet Sherwood
World leaders gathering in New York for the United Nations general assembly are convulsed by the call to effectively recognise an independent state of Palestine.
Why are the Palestinians doing this?
Frustrated after years of negotiations, which have gone nowhere, and alarmed by Israel’s ever-expanding settlements on land that is expected to be part of their future state, the Palestinian leadership has decided to appeal to the international community as a way of breaking the deadlock. They say being accorded state status by the world body will strengthen their hand in negotiations, expose Israel as an occupying power in another sovereign state, and allow them recourse to world bodies such as the international criminal court.
Are the Israelis cool about it?
Anything but. They say the Palestinian decision to go the UN proves they are not interested in negotiating a end to the conflict with Israel. They describe it as a unilateral act, which goes against previous agreements such as the 1993 Oslo accords and makes a return to peace talks impossible. Rising expectations of statehood among Palestinians, which cannot be fulfilled, are likely to lead to violence and instability. And they are alarmed at the prospect of being dragged before the ICC, which will also harm the prospects for peace.
How does the world line up?
Despite President Obama saying at last September’s general assembly that he hoped to see a Palestinian state within a year, the US is deeply opposed to the move and indeed has promised to veto it in the security council. They say only negotiations can bring a lasting peace and stability. Others say Obama is worried about the Jewish vote in next year’s US elections.
Europe is divided, and is at the centre of frenetic efforts to avoid this coming to a vote by persuading the parties back to talks.
The Palestinians claim to have the backing of around 130 of the UN’s 193 countries – enough for a resolution to pass in the general assembly. But Israel hopes to be able to claim a “moral minority” of powerful and influential nations. The battle for every vote is continuing.
What do the citizens of this new state say?
Most Palestinians back President Mahmoud Abbas’s move but understand that the realities of life under Israeli occupation won’t change. They are deeply sceptical about the “peace process” and resentful of the Jewish settlements expanding on their land. In Gaza, Hamas is opposed to a move that implicitly accepts an Israeli state alongside a Palestinian state, and many ordinary people simply feel forgotten and excluded.
What about their neighbours, the Israelis?
Many Israelis are anxious about the consequences of the UN recognising a Palestinian state and fear a return to violence. But most want to see two states living side by side eventually, although many are unwilling to make painful compromises to achieve that.
The West Bank settlers, though, are deeply opposed to the very idea of a Palestinian state on land they believe was given to them by God. Hardline elements want to drive the Palestinians out by force and many on both sides fear that settler attacks could trigger confrontations in the coming weeks.
So will there be a Palestinian state by the end of the week?
Unlikely. The frantic efforts to find a way out of the diplomatic car crash seem to be making progress but it’s hard to know whether the Palestinians will be given enough assurances on the framework of new talks to persuade them either to withhold their request or formally submit it but agree to a delay, or have one forced on them. The situation is tense and fluid, both in New York and on the ground in Israel-Palestine, and no one really knows what the outcome of this week will be.
Palestinian statehood: plan emerges to avoid UN showdown: Guardian
Compromise would see Mahmoud Abbas submit letter to security council, which would then defer vote until further talks
Chris McGreal in New York
International efforts to forestall a showdown in the UN security council over the declaration of a Palestinian state are solidifying around a plan for the Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, to submit a request for recognition but for a vote on the issue to be put on hold while a new round of peace talks is launched.
The deal is being pushed by the Middle East “Quartet” of the UN, EU, US and Russia, which is attempting to persuade Abbas to back away from a diplomatic confrontation with Washington, which says it will veto the Palestinian bid.
The US president Barack Obama is expected to meet the Palestinian leader at the UN on Wednesday as Abbas comes under intense pressure from the US and Europe to compromise.
Diplomats said the proposed compromise would see Abbas submit his letter to the security council, which would then defer action. In parallel, the Quartet would issue the framework for renewed negotiations that would include a timeline for the birth of a Palestinian state.
The deal is intended to permit Abbas to follow through on his commitment to Palestinians to seek recognition for an independent state at the security council, a pledge he could not abandon entirely without considerable damage to his already battered leadership.
If the proposals under discussion come to fruition, Abbas could claim a victory for the Palestinians by saying he has achieved his principal goal in going to the UN of breaking the deadlock that has seen no serious movement towards a Palestinian state in years.
However, diplomats warned that a number of issues remain unresolved, including a Palestinian demand that the statement include a requirement that Israel halt construction of Jewish settlements in the occupied territories.
Israel’s position is unclear. Its prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, arrives in New York on Wednesday and has appealed for immediate talks with Abbas but without preconditions.
Diplomats said negotiations were likely to come down to the wire as Abbas plans to submit the request on Friday.
“The Palestinians are open to a way out of this,” said a diplomat with knowledge of the negotiations. “But they can’t abandon the security council vote without something to show. The question is how to turn this to their advantage. If the result is that there is a serious push to make peace talks work, then that’s a win for the Palestinians. I think everyone involved in this – the Americans, the Europeans – would like to see that happen.”
Husam Zomlot, a Palestinian spokesman, said Abbas remains committed to submitting the Palestinian request to the security council but he noted that the intention behind the move was to break the deadlock in the peace process, which may now be happening.
“There is absolutely no contradiction whatsoever between our quest for United Nations full membership and any possible negotiations. In fact, we see them as very very complementary. We are seeking this to provide any future bilateral process with sufficient multilateral cover where we don’t waste another 20 years,” he said.
The proposals under discussion would have the Quartet statement say, at the Palestinians’ behest, that the goal is a Palestinian state based on the borders at the time of the 1967 war that led to the occupation of East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza. It will also meet an Israeli demand by saying that talks will result in two countries with Israel as a Jewish state.
A Palestinian official acknowledged the plan was a focus of discussion with the Quartet although he cautioned that the leadership is concerned to ensure there is real momentum and that Israel is not permitted to drag out negotiations.
Abbas has come under intense pressure from the US and European nations to avoid forcing Washington to wield its veto. The British foreign secretary, William Hague, and the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, met the Palestinian leader on Tuesday to press him to reopen talks.
Nabil Shaath, a senior member of Abbas’s delegation to the UN, said the US has attempted to dissuade the Palestinians from going to the security council with the threat of punitive measures. He did not say what they might be although there are demands in Congress for the $500m in US aid to the Palestinian Authority to be cut.
The Palestinians are also under pressure because it is far from certain they will win the necessary nine votes in the security council to win recognition. The US has been using its influence to get some security council members to abstain in the hope the Palestinians will lose the vote and that the US veto will not be required.
Nonetheless, Abbas can claim a diplomatic success in forcing the most serious effort to kickstart peace negotiations in years. The US insistence that it will veto the Palestinian bid for membership in the security council has strengthened the hand of European governments, which have generally be sidelined by Washington in the Middle East peace process.
Britain and France in particular, as permanent members of the security council, have attempted to use their votes as a bargaining chip in dealings with Abbas by suggesting that they could support a move to give the Palestinians greater recognition in the UN general assembly if a vote is not forced in the security council.
However, diplomats cautioned that the plan is far from complete and that obstacles remain.