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Palestine May Win a Vote, But Won't Be a State
(Bloomberg) Jeffrey Goldberg - Abbas' plan to ask the UN to recognize an independent state of Palestine will only defer the goal of an independent Palestine. There are only two member states of the UN that can bring it about: Israel and the U.S. Neither supports this resolution. Most Israelis view it as an attempt to limit their options in future negotiations, or to deny to them the holiest sites of the Jewish people and delegitimize the idea of a Jewish state. The U.S. opposes the resolution because it would represent yet another entirely symbolic and counterproductive gesture in the long history of Palestinian gesture-making. "This is about shortcutting a process for which there are no shortcuts," said Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the UN. "At the end of the day, there's only one way to create two states for two peoples, and that is negotiations." "To have a drama that changes very little in the world vis-a-vis the actual conflict, and then to expect that while one party is taking this great victory lap the other party is going to run to the negotiating table, is not necessarily realistic."