Daily Alert Archives

The Time Isn't Right for Palestinian Statehood Bid

(Montreal Gazette-Canada) Irwin Cotler - U.S. President Barack Obama, in a speech May 19, warned that a just and lasting peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is possible only through a negotiated approach that involves mutual concessions. "Symbolic actions to isolate Israel at the United Nations in September won't create an independent state," a position reaffirmed in a communique by the G8 on May 27. The Palestinian team responsible for preparing this initiative has been given an independent legal opinion - by its own counsel - that argues against a unilateral Palestinian statehood bid and warns of the serious risks involved to the Palestinian people, a position echoed by Jordan's King Abdullah II. Such a unilateral declaration would undermine all accepted international frameworks for peace, such as UN Security Council resolutions 242, 338, and 1850; the Roadmap for Peace; and various statements by the Quartet, all of which call for a mutually negotiated resolution of the conflict while rejecting unilateralism. Furthermore, the Palestinian Authority does not yet meet the traditional test for statehood - particularly the test of effective government, effective representation, control over a defined territory and adherence to the rule of law. The writer, emeritus professor of law at McGill University, is a former minister of justice and attorney-general of Canada.
2011-09-09 00:00:00
Full Article