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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jul/16/palestine-authoirty-state-ramallah-un
Will a Declaration of Statehood Help Palestinians?
(Guardian-UK) Harriet Sherwood - While the Palestinian Authority plans to ask the UN to recognize a declaration of statehood, some Palestinian observers believe the PA leadership may be quietly seeking a way to "climb down the tree." Diana Butto, a former legal adviser to Palestinian negotiators, said she expected a retreat from the UN strategy. "They [the Palestinian leadership] climb up trees and don't know how to get down, except by falling out of the tree." The PA, she said, had not thought through what it hoped to achieve by pursuing the UN approach. "There is a lack of imagination. Pursuing statehood is just a tactic to strengthen its hand in negotiations." Statehood should, for example, enable the Palestinians to challenge Israeli policies and actions at the international court of justice, she said. In Ramallah, vegetable shop owner Adel Abu Mariam said of the Palestinian UN bid: "If it fails, maybe people will be angry for a couple of days, but then life will go on. We have no strength for a new intifada. People know what happened before."