Israel Positions Itself vis-a-vis Palestine

The world didn't have to wait long to get Israel's response to the United Nations vote to grant de-facto statehood to Palestine. Israel responded on Friday by authorizing 3,000 new settler homes in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. An unnamed official said the government has also decided to expedite planning work for more homes in a sensitive area close to Jerusalem that critics say would kill off Palestinian hopes of a viable state. The decision was made on Thursday when it became clear that the UN General Assembly would vote to upgrade the Palestinians' status in the world body, making them a "non-member state", as opposed to an "entity", the first time any world body has applied the title "state" to Palestine, enhancing their diplomatic clout and status. The UN motion - supported by 138 nations, opposed by nine, with 41 members abstaining - was a resounding defeat for US diplomacy that exposed Israel's growing diplomatic isolation. An Israeli official conceded this and warned there would be consequences, which were swift in coming. Building new settler homes has always been likely, but the prospect of building in the area known as E-1, which is near Jerusalem and bisects much of the West Bank, is seen by some as a potential game changer. "E-1 will signal the end of the two state-solution," said Daniel Seidemann, an Israeli expert on settlements quoted by Associated Press. He added that statutory planning would take six to nine months to complete, indicating that building in the E-1 zone is not a foregone conclusion. About 500,000 Israelis already live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem on land Israel seized in the 1967 Middle East war, in territory the Palestinians claim for their independent state. The United States, one of the eight countries to vote with Israel at the UN General Assembly, in yet another iteration if the Obama administration's policy to distance the US from Israel, said the latest expansion plan was counterproductive to the resumption of direct Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. Ahead of the UN vote, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had argued that the unilateral Palestinian move breached their previous accords and accused the 193-member world body of failing in its responsibilities. "The General Assembly can resemble the theatre of the absurd, which once a year automatically approves ludicrous, anti-Israeli resolutions," said Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev. "Sometimes these are supported by Europe, sometimes they are not," he added, alluding to the fact that only one European state, the Czech Republic, had voted against the Palestinians. Nevertheless, analysts said the vote exposed the gulf that has opened between Europe and Netanyahu over his handling of the Western-backed administration of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and denoted the depth of EU opposition to settlement expansion. Israel was caught off guard. The West has supported the Abbas administration with billions in aid over the years to bolster a partner for Middle East peace and felt they had to rally to support Abbas in New York. Before the Gaza conflict, the Palestinians said they would win 115 'yes' votes at the United Nations. They ended up with 138. By itself, the UN upgrade will make little practical difference, except that the new status, if accepted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague, will enable Abbas to seek membership. This could be troublesome for Israel because the Geneva Convention forbids occupying powers from moving "parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies." This leaves Israeli officials potentially vulnerable to an ICC challenge. Israel says its settlements are legal, citing historical and Biblical ties to the West Bank and Jerusalem. The Palestinians say they are in no rush to go to the ICC, but the threat is there, putting pressure on Israel to offer solutions to overcome the peace-talks impasse, which the Jewish state blames on Abbas. "This UN vote is a very strong signal to the Israelis that they can't shove this matter under the carpet for any longer," said Alon Liel, former director-general of the Israeli Foreign Ministry. "This is a red light for Israel." But Netanyahu is likely to win the January 22 Israeli parliamentary election, meaning that Israel's position on settlements is unlikely to change. Netanyahu's right-wing coalition is not likely to make any land-for-peace compromise with the Palestinians. However, Netanyahu's opponents seized on the UN vote, with ex-foreign minister Tzipi Livni, aspiring to become Israel's second female prime minister. Israeli officials say the Palestinians themselves must show they are ready to make the concessions needed to secure an accord - such as renouncing any right to return to modern-day Israel for 1940s Palestine refugees and their descendants. However, analysts say that once the elections are over, the new government will have a period of calm to try once more to end their decades-old conflict with the Palestinians, with a probable strategy of active engagement in upgrading the powers and responsibilities of the Palestinian Authority toward statehood, and eventually recognizing the Palestinian Authority as a state. But, if E-1 building goes ahead, the chances of talks resuming will be close to non-existent, which means, dear readers, that in all likelihood that Israel will hold tbe new E-1settlement plan in abeyance as a sword over the head of Abbas and the Palestinian Aithority in order to get from them the compromuses that will enable talks to begin. It is sometimes said that adversity is the mother of invention. Perhaps the UN adversity will force Israel to rethink its strategy vis-a-vis Abbas and try in earnest to do business with him while time is still on Israel's side.