Statehood bid wins domestic respect for Abbas

Mahmoud Abbas’ bold bid for UN recognition of Palestinian statehood is doomed to fail but has won him admiration at home and re-energised international efforts to seek a negotiated settlement.

Thousands of jubilant, flag-waving Palestinians watching on outdoor screens across the West Bank, cheered their president on Friday as he submitted his historic request for a UN nod.

In Nablus, the crowd roared ecstatically when Abbas, known as Abu Mazen, told the UN General Assembly that he had submitted the request for full UN membership.

In New York, Abbas’ speech was interrupted repeatedly by thunderous applause as he told the largely sympathetic gathering of world leaders that the Palestinians had had enough of negotiations that have foundered for nearly two decades and yielded few tangible results for the millions who live under Israeli occupation.

The new Palestine he envisioned would be in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, territories Israel captured in 1967.

“It is a moment of truth and my people are waiting to hear the answer of the world,” Abbas said. “At a time when the Arab peoples affirm their quest for democracy – the Arab Spring – the time is now for the Palestinian Spring, the time for independence.”

UN chief Ban Ki-moon referred the statehood request to the Security Council, where US opposition is expected to shoot it down. The US – which maintains longterm peace can only be reached through negotiations – and Israel have also been pressuring council members to either vote against the plan or abstain when it comes up for a vote.

The vote would require the support of nine of the council’s 15 members to pass, but even if the Palestinians could line up that backing, a US veto is assured.

The Security Council will meet on Monday to examine the Palestinian membership request.

Shortly after Abbas submitted his formal application, international mediators called on Israelis and Palestinians to return to long-stalled negotiations and reach an agreement no later than next year.

The Quartet of Mideast negotiators – the US, European Union, UN and Russia - urged both parties to draw up an agenda for peace talks within a month and produce comprehensive proposals on territory and security within three months. They would like to see a final deal by the end of next year.

Abbas’ determination to press ahead with the statehood application appeared to be reflected in the Quartet’s statement, which was radically different from what diplomats had been hoping to draft.

US and European officials had been trying to craft a statement that would have outlined parameters of the negotiations, including a reference to borders being based on the pre-war lines and affirm Israel’s identity as a Jewish state - something the Palestinians have resisted.

Instead, the Quartet focused on proposing deadlines for steps the two sides should take.

The warmth with which Abbas was received by the overwhelming majority at the General Assembly contrasted sharply with the harsh words directed at him by Israel’s prime minister, who told officials that earlier concessions made by his country had only brought the threat of militant Islam closer to its doorstep.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the time was over for negotiations for negotiating’s sake and that it was the moment to discuss peace.

But while Palestinians “should live in a free state of their own,” he said, “they should be ”ready for compromise“ and ”start taking Israel’s security concerns seriously“.

In a scathing denunciation of Israel’s settlement policy, Abbas declared that negotiations with Israel “will be meaningless” as long as it continues building on lands the Palestinians claim for that state.

Invoking what would be a nightmare for Israel, he went so far as to warn that his government could collapse if the construction persists.

Netanyahu, addressing the General Assembly shortly after Abbas, said his country was “willing to make painful compromises” in its quest for peace.