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GAZA CITY: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is set to lodge a proposal with the UN today (Friday) seeking recognition of an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem — occupied by Israel since the 1967 Six-Day War — after the breakdown of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.
The Hamas-led government in Gaza says Abbas took this decision unilaterally without consulting Palestinian factions, and that a national consensus is the better strategy to end Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land.
Abbas says the Palestinians will pursue a vote in the UN Security Council, although the US asserts it will veto a resolution for Palestinian statehood. Diplomatic maneuvering in New York is under way as the UN General Assembly convened Wednesday, opening with a firm assertion by US President Barack Obama that the UN is not the place for Palestinians to seek statehood.
Nabil Abu Rudainah, adviser to Abbas, says negotiations between the PA and Israel — which cover final status issues — would continue after the UN’s potential recognition of a Palestinian state.
“We will immediately return to negotiate, because the land within the 1967 borders will be an ‘occupied land’ not ‘disputed land’, and every single settlement will be illegal,” says Abu Rudainah.
Palestinian factions Fatah — in control of the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank — and Hamas (in control of the Gaza government) have yet to implement their latest reconciliation agreement signed in Cairo.
“Hamas supports the creation of a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with Jerusalem as its capital, but as history has shown, negotiating with Israel is not going to bring statehood,” says Deputy Foreign Minister Ghazi Hamad in Gaza.
“We are not sure about the results, because as Abbas said in his speech on Sept.16, the move to the UN will not bring binding agreements, more freedom, or a state on the ground, it is a first step,” says Hamad, and “Israel may continue building settlements or may not be serious in the process (resolving the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians).”
The Hamas-led Foreign Ministry, convinced negotiating with Israel will not bring an end to its occupation, hopes to garner support within the movement for a new diplomatic strategy that looks to countries in the region, like Turkey, to apply political pressure on Israel.
Hamas and the PA agree that after 20 years of failed negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians it’s time for a new strategy.
The US is not a fair mediator, according to the Gaza Foreign Ministry, which is looking for support from nations, like Turkey and Egypt, and other countries that believe the Palestinians deserve a state as an approach to ending the conflict.
“We can look to the international community, including the UN, to ask for an end to the occupation,” says Hamad. “There is a UN resolution that the Palestinians deserve a state within the 1967 borders — Israel must comply with international law and must withdraw from all Palestinian territory,” he says.
It remains unclear if Foreign Ministry officials will be able to persuade the movement to support using diplomacy to resolve the conflict in conjunction with armed “resistance.”
The Hamas-led government is currently committed to stopping attacks against Israel, emanating from Gaza, but the situation is still tenuous without a truce between them.
Hamas officials and independents in Gaza see the wave of revolutions across the Arab world as an opportunity for the Hamas government to foster new connections, especially with newly formed governments in Libya and Egypt.
“It’s a new era — Mubarak is no longer in power in Egypt, Ben Ali is no longer in Tunisia, and Qaddafi is gone,” says Hamad, and, “People are empowered, for example, Egyptians have demonstrated they no longer want an Israeli Embassy in Cairo.”
Hamas admires Turkey’s ability to pressure Israel, and hopes the Turkish government might even emerge as the key mediator between Israel and the Palestinians, especially since Turkey is well respected by the EU and the Islamic world.
“Turkey is a model of political Islam — this is what we need,” says Hamad, and “If Abbas wants to change the dynamic of the situation with Israel, especially in the midst of the Arab spring, we need to give people an alternative.”
Hamas claims they have agreed to hold new elections in May 2012, if reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas is achieved. However, the movement is still struggling to separate its civilian elected officials from its military wing and may look to Turkey’s system as a model for reform.
Hamas won the legislative council election in 2006 on the promise of Islam and democracy, and while significant achievements have been made by the government in terms of security and local governance, the internal conflict between Fatah and Hamas has eroded Gaza’s institutions and the provision of basic services.
Gaza ministries, like health and education, have suffered due the political dispute and lack of communication between the PA and the Gaza government.
The Gaza government remains largely isolated from the outside world under the Israeli blockade that severely limits the movement of goods and people, tightened in June 2007 when Hamas took power.
Meanwhile, Hamas is still branded as a “terror” organization by the international community, due to its refusal to accept the Quartet’s (EU, US, UN and Russia) conditions to renounce violence, accept previously signed agreements and recognize Israel.
“New voices in Hamas are calling for diplomacy according to the Turkish model but it may take a few years for Hamas to shift their strategy, which would be necessary to succeed at the international level,” says Hani Besous, political analyst and professor at Islamic University in Gaza, although, “Hamas as an Islamic Palestinian movement has been successful at the local level.”
Yuval Shany, chair in Public International Law at Hebrew University, agrees that Israel’s military occupation will likely continue even if a Palestinian state is recognized.
“Palestinian statehood opens up some avenues for internationalizing the conflict — like asking the International Criminal Court to investigate Israeli military operations in the occupied (Palestinian) territory, inviting UN rapporteurs to visit the area, and perhaps attempting to invite UN or Arab League peacekeepers to the area,” says Shany.
Potential economic sanctions by Israel or the US against the PA could also directly affect Gaza’s 1.6 million residents, in addition to the 2.5 million Palestinians living in the West Bank.
Gaza’s unemployment is one of the highest in the world, while over half the population is food insecure, according to UN estimates. Potential economic sanctions by Israel could include withholding the monthly tax revenue from the PA that would also hit Palestinians in Gaza hard if the PA is unable to make monthly salary payments.
Half of the PA’s estimated 150,000 employees are in Gaza, and the PA pays 57 percent of its budget to Gaza for electricity, water, and fuel.
Gaza and the West Bank are treated as part of the same customs envelope by Israel, which collects the customs taxes and is supposed to remit them monthly to the PA in Ramallah, according to the Paris Protocol signed in conjunction with the Oslo Accords in 1994.
Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon says the Palestinian bid for statehood could render the accords null and void.
"The operating budget of the Hamas-led government will not be affected, since we do not receive funds from the US or EU countries," says Hamad. "We are paying salaries for our 30,000 government employees — sometimes there is a delay, but they are made."
However, if Israel enforces closures on the borders and crossing to Gaza this could directly impact people, further restricting imports.
— Erica Silverman is a humanitarian reporter for the UN news agency, IRIN, based in the occupied Palestinian territories and Israel.
The Hamas-led government in Gaza says Abbas took this decision unilaterally without consulting Palestinian factions, and that a national consensus is the better strategy to end Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land.
Abbas says the Palestinians will pursue a vote in the UN Security Council, although the US asserts it will veto a resolution for Palestinian statehood. Diplomatic maneuvering in New York is under way as the UN General Assembly convened Wednesday, opening with a firm assertion by US President Barack Obama that the UN is not the place for Palestinians to seek statehood.
Nabil Abu Rudainah, adviser to Abbas, says negotiations between the PA and Israel — which cover final status issues — would continue after the UN’s potential recognition of a Palestinian state.
“We will immediately return to negotiate, because the land within the 1967 borders will be an ‘occupied land’ not ‘disputed land’, and every single settlement will be illegal,” says Abu Rudainah.
Palestinian factions Fatah — in control of the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank — and Hamas (in control of the Gaza government) have yet to implement their latest reconciliation agreement signed in Cairo.
“Hamas supports the creation of a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with Jerusalem as its capital, but as history has shown, negotiating with Israel is not going to bring statehood,” says Deputy Foreign Minister Ghazi Hamad in Gaza.
“We are not sure about the results, because as Abbas said in his speech on Sept.16, the move to the UN will not bring binding agreements, more freedom, or a state on the ground, it is a first step,” says Hamad, and “Israel may continue building settlements or may not be serious in the process (resolving the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians).”
The Hamas-led Foreign Ministry, convinced negotiating with Israel will not bring an end to its occupation, hopes to garner support within the movement for a new diplomatic strategy that looks to countries in the region, like Turkey, to apply political pressure on Israel.
Hamas and the PA agree that after 20 years of failed negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians it’s time for a new strategy.
The US is not a fair mediator, according to the Gaza Foreign Ministry, which is looking for support from nations, like Turkey and Egypt, and other countries that believe the Palestinians deserve a state as an approach to ending the conflict.
“We can look to the international community, including the UN, to ask for an end to the occupation,” says Hamad. “There is a UN resolution that the Palestinians deserve a state within the 1967 borders — Israel must comply with international law and must withdraw from all Palestinian territory,” he says.
It remains unclear if Foreign Ministry officials will be able to persuade the movement to support using diplomacy to resolve the conflict in conjunction with armed “resistance.”
The Hamas-led government is currently committed to stopping attacks against Israel, emanating from Gaza, but the situation is still tenuous without a truce between them.
Hamas officials and independents in Gaza see the wave of revolutions across the Arab world as an opportunity for the Hamas government to foster new connections, especially with newly formed governments in Libya and Egypt.
“It’s a new era — Mubarak is no longer in power in Egypt, Ben Ali is no longer in Tunisia, and Qaddafi is gone,” says Hamad, and, “People are empowered, for example, Egyptians have demonstrated they no longer want an Israeli Embassy in Cairo.”
Hamas admires Turkey’s ability to pressure Israel, and hopes the Turkish government might even emerge as the key mediator between Israel and the Palestinians, especially since Turkey is well respected by the EU and the Islamic world.
“Turkey is a model of political Islam — this is what we need,” says Hamad, and “If Abbas wants to change the dynamic of the situation with Israel, especially in the midst of the Arab spring, we need to give people an alternative.”
Hamas claims they have agreed to hold new elections in May 2012, if reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas is achieved. However, the movement is still struggling to separate its civilian elected officials from its military wing and may look to Turkey’s system as a model for reform.
Hamas won the legislative council election in 2006 on the promise of Islam and democracy, and while significant achievements have been made by the government in terms of security and local governance, the internal conflict between Fatah and Hamas has eroded Gaza’s institutions and the provision of basic services.
Gaza ministries, like health and education, have suffered due the political dispute and lack of communication between the PA and the Gaza government.
The Gaza government remains largely isolated from the outside world under the Israeli blockade that severely limits the movement of goods and people, tightened in June 2007 when Hamas took power.
Meanwhile, Hamas is still branded as a “terror” organization by the international community, due to its refusal to accept the Quartet’s (EU, US, UN and Russia) conditions to renounce violence, accept previously signed agreements and recognize Israel.
“New voices in Hamas are calling for diplomacy according to the Turkish model but it may take a few years for Hamas to shift their strategy, which would be necessary to succeed at the international level,” says Hani Besous, political analyst and professor at Islamic University in Gaza, although, “Hamas as an Islamic Palestinian movement has been successful at the local level.”
Yuval Shany, chair in Public International Law at Hebrew University, agrees that Israel’s military occupation will likely continue even if a Palestinian state is recognized.
“Palestinian statehood opens up some avenues for internationalizing the conflict — like asking the International Criminal Court to investigate Israeli military operations in the occupied (Palestinian) territory, inviting UN rapporteurs to visit the area, and perhaps attempting to invite UN or Arab League peacekeepers to the area,” says Shany.
Potential economic sanctions by Israel or the US against the PA could also directly affect Gaza’s 1.6 million residents, in addition to the 2.5 million Palestinians living in the West Bank.
Gaza’s unemployment is one of the highest in the world, while over half the population is food insecure, according to UN estimates. Potential economic sanctions by Israel could include withholding the monthly tax revenue from the PA that would also hit Palestinians in Gaza hard if the PA is unable to make monthly salary payments.
Half of the PA’s estimated 150,000 employees are in Gaza, and the PA pays 57 percent of its budget to Gaza for electricity, water, and fuel.
Gaza and the West Bank are treated as part of the same customs envelope by Israel, which collects the customs taxes and is supposed to remit them monthly to the PA in Ramallah, according to the Paris Protocol signed in conjunction with the Oslo Accords in 1994.
Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon says the Palestinian bid for statehood could render the accords null and void.
"The operating budget of the Hamas-led government will not be affected, since we do not receive funds from the US or EU countries," says Hamad. "We are paying salaries for our 30,000 government employees — sometimes there is a delay, but they are made."
However, if Israel enforces closures on the borders and crossing to Gaza this could directly impact people, further restricting imports.
— Erica Silverman is a humanitarian reporter for the UN news agency, IRIN, based in the occupied Palestinian territories and Israel.
