(Ha'aretz) Alan Baker - No Palestinian state has been created. The UN does not have the authority to establish states. The Palestinian upgrade resolution is nothing more than another nonbinding General Assembly resolution on the Middle East. The Palestinians are not in a position to declare statehood. Internationally accepted criteria for statehood include unified territory, capability of responsible governance and readiness to abide by international obligations. With Gaza controlled by Hamas/Iran and the West Bank by Fatah, and with Gaza-based terror groups indiscriminately lobbing rockets into Israel's towns, the Palestinians have a long way to go until they fulfill these requirements. The term "Occupied Palestinian Territory" has no basis in fact or law. Gaza and the West Bank (Judea and Samaria) have never, in any legal document or agreement, been determined as sovereign Palestinian territory. UN Security Council Resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973) required that the conflict be settled by negotiation between the parties. Both entertain claims regarding the areas. The Palestinians base theirs on the right to self-determination, the 1947 UN partition resolution and long-time residence. The Israelis base theirs on long-held historic, indeed indigenous, rights and a chain of international instruments attesting to their right to a national home. The threat to initiate charges in the ICC is legally and politically questionable. The ICC is not a UN body obliged to follow UN recommendations. Its statute permits "states" to activate the court's jurisdiction. But after the upgrade resolution, the Palestinians are no more a state than they were beforehand. As an independent juridical body, the ICC functions in complete objectivity. Palestinian attempts to abuse it by politicization against Israel would prejudice its credibility and stature. The writer, who has served as the legal adviser to the Foreign Ministry and as Israel's ambassador to Canada, is director of the Institute for Contemporary Affairs at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.
2012-12-14 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive