With revolutionary fervor sweeping the Middle East, Israel is under mounting pressure to make a far-reaching offer to the Palestinians or face a United Nations vote welcoming the State of Palestine as a member whose territory includes all of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem.
That statement above pretty sums up the situation that Israel is facing. More details follow:
The Palestinian Authority has been steadily building support for such a resolution in September, a move that could place Israel into a diplomatic vise.
Israel would be occupying land belonging to a fellow United Nations member, land it has controlled and settled for more than four decades and some of which it expects to keep in any two-state solution.
“We are facing a diplomatic-political tsunami that the majority of the public is unaware of and that will peak in September,” said Ehud Barak, Israel’s defense minister, at a conference in Tel Aviv last month. “It is a very dangerous situation, one that requires action.” He added, “Paralysis, rhetoric, inaction will deepen the isolation of Israel.”
September seems to be "the" month. Recall U.S. President Obama has been repeatedly stating that he wants to see resolution of this issue in September as well - probably not a coincidence.
“We want to generate pressure on Israel to make it feel isolated and help it understand that there can be no talks without a stop to settlements,” said Nabil Shaath, who leads the foreign affairs department of Fatah, the main party of the Palestinian Authority. “Without that, our goal is membership in the United Nations General Assembly in September.”
Israel, seeing the prospect of even more hostile governments as its neighbors, is insisting on caution and time before taking any significant steps. It also wants to build in extensive long-term security guarantees in any two-state solution, but those inevitably infringe the sovereignty of a Palestinian state.
And as predicted, once again we hear the calls for the "pre-1967" borders:
Germany, France and Britain say negotiations should be based on the 1967 lines with equivalent land swaps, exactly what the Netanyahu government rejects because it says it predetermines the outcome.
“Does the world think it is going to force Israel to declare the 1967 lines and giving up Jerusalem as a basis for negotiation?” asked a top Israeli official who spoke on condition of anonymity. “That will never happen.”
While the Obama administration has referred in the past to the 1967 lines as a basis for talks, it has not decided whether to back the European Union, the United Nations and Russia — the other members of the so-called quartet — in declaring them the starting point, diplomats said. The quartet meets on April 15 in Berlin.
It all boils down to whether or not the UN will "officially" recognize a "PA State". If they do so, the ramifications are as follows:
Efforts are still under way to restart peace talks but if, as expected, negotiations do not resume, come September the Palestinian Authority seems set to go ahead with plans to ask the General Assembly to accept it as a member.
Diplomats involved in the issue say most countries — more than 100 — are expected to vote yes, meaning it will pass. (There are no vetoes in the General Assembly so the United States cannot save Israel as it often has in the Security Council.) What happens then?
Mr. Shaath said Israel would then be in daily violation of the rights of a fellow member state and diplomatic and legal consequences could follow, all of which would be painful for Israel.
In Haaretz newspaper on Thursday, Ari Shavit, who is a political centrist, drew a comparison between 2011 and the biggest military setback Israel ever faced, the 1973 war.
He wrote that “2011 is going to be a diplomatic 1973,” because a Palestinian state will be recognized internationally. “Every military base in the West Bank will be contravening the sovereignty of an independent U.N. member state.” He added, “A diplomatic siege from without and a civil uprising from within will grip Israel in a stranglehold.”
And if this happens, how long before we would see a UN resolution, much like we have seen in Libya? If a "PA State" had been declared, then technically there would be the issue of "occupied" land (the fact that such a declaration would be a complete lie would be irrelevant), and then an opportunity for troops to come in and resolve the border dispute.
The so-called "responsibility to protect" doctrine which has been used to explain the UN declared "action" against Libya almost looks specifically made for Israel. Was Libya just a test run for a future Israeli incursion?
This scenario could end up being the tipping point in the region - the beginning of the final battles in the Middle East, as described in the pages of biblical prophecy.
If the UN unilaterally creates an independent "PA State", then the game changes instantly. Israel would be squarely in the crosshairs of the UN (aka "the nations") - a UN which is dominated by the Arab League and other countries aiding in Israel's destruction whether by intent or by accident.
The Prophet Zechariah saw this day coming, when he described the era in history in which all the nations of the world would be aligned against Israel (Zechariah 12).
We seem to be witnessing these last steps in the process of the world coming against Israel, a process which includes the surrounding terrorists groups and nations emboldened enough to attack Israel - just as God stated in Ezekiel 39:8:
"It is coming! It will surely take place, declares the Sovereign Lord. This is the day I have spoken of."
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