The US, the EU and Israel do their best to convince Palestine to desist from appealing to the UN and begin talks. That’s why the special envoy of the USA president, Dennis Ross, arrived in the Middle East. That is why the president of Israel, Shimon Peres, and the minister of defense, Ehud Barak, met secretly with the leader of Palestine, Mahmud Abbas. However, Abbas stated that no new ideas or suggestions were voiced and his intentions are unchanged.
The envoy of Israel to the UN, Ron Prosor, is meeting his colleagues from various countries these days to encourage them to vote against Palestine’s initiative. “There are no doubts Palestine will gain a majority of votes at the General Assembly. The majority can also vote for the Earth to be flat, if it worsens the Israeli position. In this situation our aim is getting moral support from countries that are indispensible parts of the civilized world. Germany and Italy have already stated they will vote against Palestinian recognition; France and Great Britain are in doubt. Russia will support Palestine, though it expresses a positive attitude to Israel,” Prosor said.
Information sources note that inside the Palestine autonomy there is no solid opinion on the reasonability of such a step. Moreover, such terrorist organizations as Hamas, Popular Resistance Committees and others believe that Palestine should fight against Israel until it will be destroyed and shouldn’t agree to the borders of 1967. The prime minister of the autonomy, Salam Fayad, thinks this step is untimely. He is afraid of the US refusal to financially support Palestine, which will lead to the collapse of Palestine’s economy.
Nevertheless, the main question both for Israel and Palestine is what will happen the day after the vote? What will be the counter-moves by Israel to recognition of Palestine by the General Assembly? What will Palestine do?
The interviews taken by the author show that even today (a few days before the vote) Israel has no solid opinion on the issue or a plan of action.
There are two views. The first is that Israel should react to Palestine’s demarche severely: stop transferring taxes to them, which are taken from the Palestinians working in Israel, and break all ties with Palestine until they agree to negotiations.
The second view is that the situation will lead to terror and violence by the Palestinians. So the supporters of the second opinion suggest leaving things as they are, as at least the Palestinians began terrorist attacks. Interesting, but this point of view is supported by the top administration of the Israeli Army.
Opponents of the second view say that it will mean Israel de facto recognizes Palestinian independence, which is unacceptable.
Abbas stated he will do his best to prevent violence and after the state is recognized the Palestinians would use non-violent approaches of resistance. However, what are non-violent approaches? What should Jewish residents do if thousands of Palestinians break into their villages and start robbing their houses without armaments? The Israeli prosecution forbids Jewish residents using armaments against Palestinians. But what would really happen?
In conclusion I would like to note that, at the international conference on regional cooperation in Tel -Aviv on September 5, two polls were presented. They were held among Israelis and Palestinians by the well-known sociology institute Geocartography to find out the friendliness index. Among Palestinians (excluding residents of Gaza) this index is 80%. Among Israelis – 75%.
The conclusion come to by the institute is obvious: relationships between Israelis and Palestinians are hardly relations between invaders and invaded. Moreover, both sides are actually ready for peaceful living with each other. The point is politics as always.
Petr Lyuksimon, Israel. Exclusively to VK.
