PERSPECTIVE | FES PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES Showdown in September? The Palestinian bid for Statehood at the United Nations ALEXANDER RUESCHE AND ANDREAS HACKL August 2011 . Should bilateral negotiations with Israel continue to stall, Palestinians will ask for recognition of their state and admission to the United Nations this September. According to estimates 120 countries currently support the accession of a Palestinian state to the UN as a full member state. A two-thirds-majority in the General Assembly seems as certain as a US veto in the UN Security Council. As of now, it remains uncertain whether Palestine will apply for full UN membership or turn to the General Assembly to reach an upgrade of the current status to that of a non- member observer state and circumvent a US veto. This past spring, World Bank, IMF and UN declared that the conditions for a Palestinian state are met due to the successful state-building process initialized by the two-year »Fayyad plan« of 2009. A. RUESCHE AND A. HACKL | PALESTINE AND THE UN per cent of Palestinians would support a resumption of Abbas: Negotiations vs. UN bid negotiations according to an October poll. On 16 May, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Ready for statehood clarified in an op-ed in the New York Times that in September, the Palestinians would »request The idea to push for the recognition of the Palestinian international recognition of the State of Palestine on state in September 2011 is not a recent plan. In August the 1967 borders and that our state be admitted as a 2009, Prime Minister Salam Fayyad announced the plan full member of the United Nations.« »Ending the Occupation, Establishing the State« that was approved, among others, by the Middle East With this statement, Abbas publicly reaffirmed a plan Quartet (UN, USA, EU, Russia) in March 2010. The plan the Palestinian leadership had been harboring for a foresees a two-year phase of institution building of the while: to turn to the United Nations in case success in Palestinian National Authority (PNA) followed by the negotiations with Israel would remain elusive. For the foundation of the Palestinian State. According to Palestinians, the UN option is not a weapon of choice, reports by the World Bank (September 2010) and the but rather a last resort after years of deadlock in which IMF (April 2011), the PNA under the leadership of bilateral talks with Israel failing to yield substantial Fayyad succeeded: Palestine is »ready for statehood« results. This approach was supported by Palestinian says the verdict of the international organizations. Foreign Minister Riad Malki at the end of June. Malki Robert Serry, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle assured that Palestinians would refrain from calling East Peace Process, also praised the progress in state upon the UN - should meaningful negotiations with a building of the Fayyad government in April 2011 saying clear time line materialize. the PNA was »well positioned for the establishment of a state at any point in the near future«. The Palestinian leadership and President Abbas in particular are under heavy pressure: Against the Additionally, the unity agreement signed in Cairo on 4 backdrop of revolutions in the Arab World, they fear Mai 2011 between the rivaling factions Hamas and mass protests in the Palestinian Territories that could Fatah is meant to end the four-year split of the easily spin out of control. The rationale behind this: Palestinian Territories into a Fatah-dominated West Abbas personally as well as his secular Fatah movement Bank and a Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. The Cairo are intrinsically connected with a negotiated approach document foresees the formation of a unity to solving the Middle East conflict. Almost two decades government for the Palestinian Territories as well as after the beginning of the Oslo process, tangible results parliamentary elections within a year of signature. By of this approach continue to remain missing. In the face means of reconciliation, Fatah and Hamas at least of Abbas’ determination of the past weeks and months formally managed to evade a major stumbling block on regarding the UN question, retracting from the UN bid the path to the UN bid – a path that both movements now without serious negotiations to show for would endorsed in the framework of the Cairo agreement. equal political suicide. Nonetheless, the implementation of the agreement has not moved beyond the question of the appointment of Additionally, the political leadership is convinced that the unity government’s prime minister. While President Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu on the Israeli side Abbas insists on Salam Fayyad as prime minister, Hamas is no partner for peace. In his speech at the American rejects the financial expert and darling of the Congress at the end of May, Netanyahu rebuffed international community. But however profound the negotiations on the basis of the 1967 borders and disagreements, they are not likely to derail the move to showed that he is not willing to stop the settlement the UN. enterprise in the occupied Palestinian Territories. Without an Israeli settlement freeze, however, only few The procedure at the UN Palestinians would find themselves willing to start another long-winded negotiations process – while Israel The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was granted creates facts on the ground through continued observer status at the United Nations in 1974, allowing settlement expansion, rendering the Two-State-Solution it to take part in General Assembly sessions without increasingly impossible. Under these premises, only 27 granting a right to vote. In 1988, Yassir Arafat 1 A. RUESCHE AND A. HACKL | PALESTINE AND THE UN proclaimed a Palestinian state in Algiers, when he read motion, thereby ensuring its failure in the Security out a declaration of independence with reference to Council. In order to circumvent a possible US veto, the two-state-solution. An event that was followed by Palestinian Foreign Minister Malki at the beginning of an upgrade of the Palestinian status at the UN which, June spurred the discussion around the option of using however, stopped short of the recognition of Palestinan the instrument »Uniting for Peace«, which was created statehood. Against this backdrop, Palestinians now aim in 1950 with Resolution 377 A (V) against the backdrop for international recognition of this Palestinian state of the Cold War and in the attempt to circumvent the within the borders of 1967 and for achieving an vetos of the USSR. This approach, however, can only be upgrade of their current ëìá= ÖÉåÉêáë status at the UN: applied when the Security Council, because of a lack of either to that of a full member state or to that of a non- unanimity of the permanent members, fails to act in member observer state. order to maintain international peace and security. With the approval of seven of the permanent and non- The formal procedure of the application for full UN permanent members of the Security Council, the issue membership consists of three phases. First, a formal can be passed to the General Assembly on the basis of application must be submitted to the General Secretary, the »Uniting for Peace« Resolution, thereby bypassing a who forwards the application to the Security Council veto. In this case, the General Assembly has to convene and sends a copy to the General Assembly for for an emergency meeting within the next 24 hours. information. The Palestinian leadership had originally Whether »Uniting for Peace« is applicable in the planned to apply by 15 July, but Palestinian envoy to Palestinian context, however, is highly contentious. At the UN Riyad Mansour declared shortly before the date the end of May, President of the General Assembly that the application would be filed when it was Joseph Deiss made clear that from his point of view, »ready«. there was no way around the Security Council in this matter. Furthermore, »Uniting for Peace« has never In the second phase, a standing committee on been applied to the admission of a new member to the Admission of New Members, comprised of all members UN in the past. of the Security Council, debates the request of admission and reports its conclusions to the Council. In the face of a likely US veto, the Palestinian leadership On this basis, the Council takes a decision. If nine of 15 is pursuing a double track in its quest to accede the UN: members approve and no permanent member makes On the one hand, according to the Palestinian envoy to use of its veto, the Security Council, by resolution, the UN Mansour, the aim is to convince as many recommends admission of the applying country to the members of the General Assembly as possible to General Assembly. Should the Security Council support the Palestinian application for full UN recommend admission, the third phase would be a vote membership. On 22 July, President Abbas met all in the General Assembly. For admission, a two-thirds Palestinian ambassadors and envoys in Turkey to give majority is needed. Since the admission of Southern them personal guidance for a diplomatic push. In this Sudan on 14 July, this constitutes 129 of 193 votes. The way, he is hoping to maximize the pressure on the Fatah Commissioner for Foreign Relations and former Security Council and the USA especially. However, PLO- Minister of Foreign Affairs Nabil Shaath explained that Executive-Committee member Hanan Ashrawi who was with the support of Syria, 119 countries had declared sent to Washington by President Abbas in order to their consent. As many of his fellow Palestinians, convince the Obama administration not use their veto Shaath is optimistic the quota for admission will be against the admission of Palestine as a full member reached.