"And then there were two" - The United Nations Move to Recognize Palestine

I was fortunate enough to take a course in my second to last year of undergraduate study with Professor E. Adler.

Professor Adler was an Israeli academic who had come to the University of Toronto to teach "Becoming Israel" in the hopes of explaining just how difficult a coherent definition of Israeli statehood is. Moreover he managed to use Israel (one of the globe's newest nations) as a microcosm to explain the unique challenges nations face in their infancy.

In the end he concluded that the only viable solution to the Israeli Palestinian conflict was a two-state solution.

While neither the Palestinians or the Israelis are likely to be totally content with an official portioning of the land in Israel one has to understand that we have been quickly approaching a "some or nothing" end game for decades now.

Palestinians in Ramallah hold a chair
representing their "seat" in the UN

The "two-state" solution took a big leap forward this past week, and just a day later it took an enormous step back.

The Palestinians won a historic UN vote by a landslide on Tuesday upgrading their status within the UN to that of a "non-member observer state". That's right folks they used the word "state".

Much to the objections of Canada and the United States the UN general assembly has voted on a move that has significantly strengthened the Palestinian case for statehood. The move was a surprise to some, coming just on the heels of a major Hamas offensive via the Gaza Strip.

The recent November conflict in Israel reminded the world that the Palestinian leadership is fragmented at best with Fatah and Hamas controlling the West Bank and the Gaza Strip respectively. But in the week leading up to the vote, Fatah and Hamas agreed to put aside their differences in the greater pursuit of statehood. It would appear that it worked, in so far as convincing the UN that an upgraded status wouldn't be abused.

It would be important to briefly outline the Canadian/U.S. positions at this point. Both nations strongly opposed the upgraded status for the Palestinians but its not because they are not supporters of the two state solution. Both the Canadian and American leadership support a two state solution that is the end result of bilateral negotiation, rather than unilateral action.

In a nutshell the Canadian and American administrations see the UN's official recognition of the Palestinians as a "non-member observer state" as a clearly unilateral procedure.

This considered, the Israeli's were ready with a counter move of their own in this ever intensifying game of Risk.  

The Jewish settlement of Maale Adumim will be
the site of some of the newly approved construction
[Baz Ratner/Reuters] 

Just a day after that historic vote in New York, the Israeli government approved the construction of an additional 3,000 homes with the aim of connection Israel to those Israeli's occupying illegal settlements in the West Bank.

Since the West Bank and Gaza Strip were designated Palestinian territories Israelis have been settling within those internal boarders illegally. Ultimately it is a strategy used to further contest the land claims in places like the West Bank.

While it is important to point out that these settlements are illegal in the eyes of the Knesset, there is little government action to stop the establishment of the settlements. Yes the IDF routinely makes a show of evicting the settlers, but there has been a concrete lack of effort on the whole to keep settlers out of the Palestinian territories.

The move this week to establish a link to these settlements reveals the Knesset's desire to keep the settlers where they are, because as long as they are there, illegally or not, one can suggest that the land remains disputed. Furthermore it creates an issue for the Palestinian authorities who have constantly named Jerusalem as their preferred future state capitol. Understandably so too do the Israeli's.

Palestinian supporters wave a flag and cheer
in the UN following the vote

The new homes will create a barrier of sorts cutting the Palestinian West Bank off from its direct contact with Jerusalem.

I recall professor Adler's last statement following our final exam. He suggested that in the end, the creation of Israel was a crime against the Palestinians... but now that it exists and generations of innocent Israeli's have been born there it too would be a crime to abolish it entirely. Thus a two state solution is the only viable proposal.

The Palestinians have apparently won this battle, but with the new homes approved and a hawkish Netanyahu in the Knesset the winner of the war is still very much anyone's guess.