Obama’s unwise campaign against Palestinian statehood

President Obama is staging an unwarranted diplomatic battle against the Palestinian attempt at statehood recognition through U.N. membership.

In his speech to the United Nations on Sept. 21, Obama opposed the Palestinian bid for membership without giving any good reason.

“Peace will not come through statements and resolutions at the U.N.,” Obama said. “The deadlock will only be broken when each side learns to stand in each other’s shoes.”

This sounds like preaching, not policymaking.

According to Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Palestinian effort at the United Nations is unilateral and threatening to peace.

The move is unilateral only as an act of self-determination, but its intention is not to be disruptive. The United Nations is the widest possible platform for peace. And the Palestinian approach to the United Nations is long overdue.

For many years, the Palestinians have relied on the United States to promote a two-state solution. The result has been a dismal failure, primarily because America has not been able to act as a neutral broker.

Since 1967, Israel has established a firm occupation ― with the Golan Heights annexed and East Jerusalem partly appropriated. Israel has also established illegal settlements for nearly half a million Jewish residents on Palestinian land, erected a wall of separation and created a siege around Gaza. And Israel has denied the rights of return for Palestinian refugees and maintained the unequal status of Israeli citizens of Palestinian origin, some 20 percent of the population.

By vetoing the Palestinian request at the United Nations, the United States will be on record delaying Palestinian statehood after previously promising to promote it. The Palestinians and the entire Muslim world remember Obama’s Cairo speech in June 2009, in which he vowed to push for a two-state solution.

What really matters is the day after. If Obama withdraws financial support to the Palestinian government ― as he has hinted earlier ― he would have to consider its inflaming impact on the Arab street in the new climate of the Arab Spring.

Washington seems too nervous about the 2012 elections to think clearly. Instead of recognizing Palestine’s status at the United Nations as a way of protecting the two-state solution, the Obama administration feels threatened and is launching a counterattack. As for Israel, it does not wish to be exposed in the future to institutions such as the International Criminal Court or the International Court of Justice by a legally strengthened Palestine.

The Obama administration is doing peace a disfavor by its obdurate approach.

By Ghassan Michel Rubeiz

Ghassan Michel Rubeiz is the former secretary of the Middle East for the Geneva-based World Council of Churches. He wrote this for Progressive Media Project, a source of liberal commentary on domestic and international issues; it is affiliated with The Progressive magazine. ― Ed.

(MCT Information Services)