Palestine Has Given the U.S. a Hard Time

It is less than a week away from the 66th meeting of the UN General Assembly. The U.S. government is busy lobbying and pressing Palestine, hoping that it will finally give up its pursuit of UN membership.

In order to apply for UN membership, the Palestinian National Authority has been diligently making diplomatic efforts, lobbying country by country since 2009, which helped it win support from more than 120 countries and international organizations, including the Arab League and the African Union.

At the moment, if Palestine doesn’t make an application, all of its former efforts will have been in vain, its international reputation would be compromised and its people would not understand. Moreover, the United States has not offered any proposals to Palestine, and Israel has not shown any intention of suspending the new Jewish settlements. The president of the Palestinian National Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, made a big decision, publicly claiming that they should wait for him to return from New York to discuss it. The U.S. government spokesperson also admitted the other day that the probability of success in stopping Palestine from applying for UN membership is very small.

Because it is a permanent member of the UN, the U.S. can destroy Palestine’s dream of becoming the 194th member of the UN by using its veto power, and U.S. President Barack Obama has expressed such determination personally. Under these circumstances, why has the U.S. made such an effort at stopping Palestine? The White House, the Department of State and even Congress have threatened to stop economic assistance completely, and the ambassador and senior diplomats were dispatched several times, lobbying and pressing Palestine until the last minute, all the while refusing to show their cards to the UN General Assembly and Security Council.

Apparently, Palestine’s application has given the U.S. a hard time, as it gathers the moral support of the international community while revealing to the world the U.S.’s “international isolation.” Undoubtedly, such isolation is not an honor, since on the question of Palestine, the U.S.’s policy of favoring Israel is unpopular, and Europe’s position is obviously different.

In terms of timing, it is not favorable for the United States. It is a time of ongoing unrest in the Middle East, and the local situation is unclear: A large power vacuum has appeared, and the United States is anxious to win over the people in the Arab world. In fact, Obama’s Middle East speech this past May has caught wide attention and is still ringing in our ears now. Once the U.S. shows its hand to the UN Security Council and General Assembly, exposing its fixed pro-Israel position, it will face an awkward situation, and America’s new image-building campaign in the Middle East will also be hurt.

Over the years, Palestine has succumbed more than once to U.S. pressure; perhaps this is one of the reasons why the United States doesn’t want to give up on imposing diplomatic pressure.

However, this time, the U.S.’s hopes may not be realized. Not only that, if the U.S. still cannot adjust its policy, if the peace process remains at a standstill and Palestine continues to suffer unfair treatment, then I am afraid that the U.S. will finally find out that it cannot avoid future isolation.