Obama and Palestine

A short, straight line extends between the U.S. administration’s decision to exercise its right to veto Palestinian membership [in the United Nations] and President Obama’s speech before the United Nations. Unlike French President Sarkozy, who devoted his speech entirely to the Palestinian cause and spoke positively about the rights of the Palestinian people, Obama, in his speech, was partial to the Israeli narrative.

Moreover, in the same speech Obama praised the Arab people’s revolutions and uprisings against oppression and autocratic rule, but declined to mention the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land.

The task of President Mahmoud Abbas, who decided to throw a rock in the stagnant waters of a faltering settlement process, is not easy. Despite pressures that are difficult for a man to withstand, he remained determined to ask for Palestine’s full membership in the Security Council.

I accompanied him this time on a trip that has historical significance, and which Abu Mazen led to put Palestine on the geographic map, embodying a basic right — the right to determine one’s destiny. And I saw from close up the amount of international pressure on him. And I can honestly say: If the battle were between Abu Mazen and Netanyahu in the corridors of the United Nations, then the Palestinian president would score a decisive victory and obtain membership. But the battle is with other powers that use all their capability to bury the Palestinian dream.

The U.S. administration is working now with all its might to prevent Palestine from obtaining the nine required votes in the Security Council, so that it isn’t forced to raise its hand and use its veto power in front of the Arab and Islamic world. They want to kill the request in its first days. On the contrary, President Abbas has emphasized to Security General Ban Ki-moon and the president of the Security Council the importance of hastening the discussion and vote so that the “three other options” as described by Abu Mazen — after the veto or the passage of time — will remain up for discussion and resolution within the Palestinian leadership.

We must realize that a vote will not be witnessed this week in the United Nations. The issue might even take many weeks, due to U.S. pressure. Nevertheless, the fact remains that this request once again put the Palestinian cause in the forefront, in an attempt to make the world face its ethical responsibilities toward the Palestinian people, who have waited a long time.

Editor’s note: The author is a member of the Knesset.