The Long Overdue Palestinian State
May 16, 2011
The Long Overdue Palestinian State
By MAHMOUD ABBAS
SIXTY-THREE years ago, a 13-year-old Palestinian boy was forced to
leave his home in the Galilean city of Safed and flee with his family to Syria.
He took up shelter in a canvas tent provided to all the arriving refugees.
Though he and his family wished for decades to return to their home and
homeland, they were denied that most basic of human rights. That child’s story,
like that of so many other Palestinians, is mine.
This month, however, as we commemorate another year of our
expulsion — which we call the nakba, or catastrophe — the Palestinian people
have cause for hope: this September, at the United Nations General Assembly, we
will request international recognition of the State of Palestine on the 1967
border and that our state be admitted as a full member of the United Nations.
Many are questioning what value there is to such recognition while
the Israeli occupation continues. Others have accused us of imperiling the peace
process. We believe, however, that there is tremendous value for all
Palestinians — those living in the homeland, in exile and under occupation.
It is important to note that the last time the question of
Palestinian statehood took center stage at the General Assembly, the question
posed to the international community was whether our homeland should be
partitioned into two states. In November 1947, the General Assembly made its
recommendation and answered in the affirmative. Shortly thereafter, Zionist
forces expelled Palestinian Arabs to ensure a decisive Jewish majority in the
future state of Israel, and Arab armies intervened. War and further expulsions
ensued. Indeed, it was the descendants of these expelled Palestinians who were
shot and wounded by Israeli forces on Sunday as they tried to symbolically
exercise their right to return to their families’ homes.
Minutes after the State of Israel was established on May 14, 1948,
the United States granted it recognition. Our Palestinian state, however,
remains a promise unfulfilled.
Palestine’s admission to the United Nations would pave the way for
the internationalization of the conflict as a legal matter, not only a political
one. It would also pave the way for us to pursue claims against Israel at the
United Nations, human rights treaty bodies and the International Court of
Justice.
Our quest for recognition as a state should not be seen as a stunt;
too many of our men and women have been lost for us to engage in such political
theater. We go to the United Nations now to secure the right to live free in the
remaining 22 percent of our historic homeland because we have been negotiating
with the State of Israel for 20 years without coming any closer to realizing a
state of our own. We cannot wait indefinitely while Israel continues to send
more settlers to the occupied West Bank and denies Palestinians access to most
of our land and holy places, particularly in Jerusalem. Neither political
pressure nor promises of rewards by the United States have stopped Israel’s
settlement program.
Negotiations remain our first option, but due to their failure we
are now compelled to turn to the international community to assist us in
preserving the opportunity for a peaceful and just end to the conflict.
Palestinian national unity is a key step in this regard. Contrary to what Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel asserts, and can be expected to repeat
this week during his visit to Washington, the choice is not between Palestinian
unity or peace with Israel; it is between a two-state solution or
settlement-colonies.
Despite Israel’s attempt to deny us our long-awaited membership in
the community of nations, we have met all prerequisites to statehood listed in
the Montevideo Convention, the 1933 treaty that sets out the rights and duties
of states. The permanent population of our land is the Palestinian people, whose
right to self-determination has been repeatedly recognized by the United
Nations, and by the International Court of Justice in 2004. Our territory is
recognized as the lands framed by the 1967 border, though it is occupied by
Israel.
We have the capacity to enter into relations with other states and
have embassies and missions in more than 100 countries. The World Bank, the
International Monetary Fund and the European Union have indicated that our
institutions are developed to the level where we are now prepared for statehood.
Only the occupation of our land hinders us from reaching our full national
potential; it does not impede United Nations recognition.
The State of Palestine intends to be a peace-loving nation,
committed to human rights, democracy, the rule of law and the principles of the
United Nations Charter. Once admitted to the United Nations, our state stands
ready to negotiate all core issues of the conflict with Israel. A key focus of
negotiations will be reaching a just solution for Palestinian refugees based on
Resolution 194, which the General Assembly passed in 1948.
Palestine would be negotiating from the position of one United
Nations member whose territory is militarily occupied by another, however, and
not as a vanquished people ready to accept whatever terms are put in front of
us.
We call on all friendly, peace-loving nations to join us in
realizing our national aspirations by recognizing the State of Palestine on the
1967 border and by supporting its admission to the United Nations. Only if the
international community keeps the promise it made to us six decades ago, and
ensures that a just resolution for Palestinian refugees is put into effect, can
there be a future of hope and dignity for our people.