Monday, September 26, 2011

That application to the UN

Here is the full text of Mahmoud Abbas's application to the UN for formal Palestinian statehood. Please note the following paragraph:
"This application for membership is being submitted on the Palestinian people's natural, legal and historic rights and based on United Nations General Assembly resolution 181 (II) of 29 November 1947 as well as the Declaration of Independence of the State of Palestine of 15 November 1988 and the acknowledgement by the General Assembly of this declaration in resolution 43/177 of 15 December 1988.
Right, so we are not talking about 1967 borders (which did not include a Palestinian state, in any case) but the 1947 ones.

Does this mean that "President" Abbas (there is some doubt about that title in the minds of his Hamas opponents) wants to correct the mistake Arab leaders made at the time by rejecting the partition of Palestine? Possibly. There is another explanation, as Tom Gross points out [scroll down to Item 5], which would fit in better with the "occupation of 63 years" that is being voiced by various Palestinian officials, including Mahmoud Abbas.
Abbas’s official text of his UN remarks included a logo on the top right hand side of the page showing all of Israel as a future Palestinian state.
Above this item there are a couple of others that might be of interest. The pictures, particularly of the painted donkey with the obnoxious child on it, are only grimly entertaining.

Then there is Item 2 about the freedom of media in Ramallah where the TV screens went blank for Prime Minister Netanyahu's speech at the UN.

To balance that there is this delightful item:
Hamas security personnel prevented a Gaza restaurant from screening Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' address to the UN General Assembly, a local rights group said Sunday.

Two men in plain clothing, who introduced themselves as members of the Hamas-run General Investigations Service (GIS), arrived at the establishment in western Gaza City late Friday and ordered the owner to stop the broadcast, threatening to close his restaurant.
The owner has been arrested and, so far as anyone knows, not yet released.

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