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The Palestinians' UN Ploy Is Just the Latest Stalling Tactic

(Telegraph-UK) Daniel Taub - Israeli-Palestinian negotiations have not yet resulted in a final agreement. But they have actually produced significant results. In fact, the very institutions and bodies that the Palestinians point to as the basis of their claim to statehood in the UN are themselves the result of face-to-face negotiations between the two sides. Decades of UN General Assembly resolutions, by contrast, have produced nothing. The current Palestinian initiative at the UN is likely to do the same. Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat told the Arab media in recent weeks that the Palestinian plan was to exploit a UN upgrade to commence campaigns against Israel in international forums, including the International Criminal Court and a slew of UN bodies. So not only will the current unilateral initiative fail to move the parties closer to peace, it will undermine what delicate cooperation does exist. The relative stability that the West Bank has witnessed is due in no small part to quiet cooperation between Israeli and Palestinian officials, including in the sensitive fields of intelligence and security. The economic welfare of the Palestinian population also owes much to Israeli efforts. It is hard to conceive how such cooperation could survive an initiative which is intended not to end the conflict but to internationalize it. The current UN initiative is another in a long line of evasive tactics to avoid coming to the table and making tough choices. As British Prime Minister David Cameron clearly put it: "There is no path to statehood except through talks with Israel. So if the Palestinian plan is simply posturing with the UN rather than negotiating with Israel, Britain will never support it." The writer is Israel's ambassador to Britain.
2012-11-02 00:00:00
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