As Expected: EU lawmakers renege on unconditional support for Palestinian statehood

Palestinians hold banners in front of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement (ICRC) building in Gaza City, Gaza on December 15,2014. Anadolu / Mustafa Hassona

Published Tuesday, December 16, 2014

EU lawmakers stopped short on Tuesday of proposing a joint motion urging EU members to recognize a state of Palestine, settling instead on a compromise resolution that peace talks should progress, converging with Israel’s stance on the matter.

Social Democrat, left-wing and Green members of the European Parliament had put forward motions for a symbolic vote on Wednesday to call on the EU's 28 members to recognize Palestinian statehood without conditions.

This follows Sweden's decision in October to recognize Palestine and non-binding votes since then by parliaments in Britain, France, Ireland, and Spain in favor of recognition demonstrated growing European impatience with the stalled peace process.

European politicians have become more active in pushing for a sovereign Palestine since the collapse of US-sponsored peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority in April, and ensuing conflict in Gaza, where more than 2,000 Palestinians, at least 70 percent of them civilians, and on the Israeli side, 66 soldiers and six civilians were killed this summer.

However, the center-right European People's Party (EPP), the largest group in parliament, and the fourth largest group, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), said recognition should only form part of a negotiated agreement with Israel.

After talks on Tuesday, negotiators for the center-left Socialists and Democrats, the EPP and ALDE, which together command a large majority in parliament, agreed on the following text:

"(The European Parliament) supports in principle recognition of Palestinian statehood and the two-state solution, and believes these should go hand in hand with the development of peace talks, which should be advanced."

Voting on the non-binding resolution will take place shortly after midday on Wednesday in Strasbourg.

US role

US Secretary of State John Kerry spent the past two days jetting across Europe meeting his counterparts to gauge support for the Palestinian effort at the UN Security Council.

"This isn't the time to detail private conversations or speculate on a UN Security Council resolution that hasn't even been table no matter what pronouncements are made publicly about it," Kerry told reporters Tuesday during a visit to London.

The US administration opposes moves, like a UN resolution, that it says would bind negotiators' hands – particularly any attempt to set a deadline for the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the West Bank.

On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had sought reassurances from Kerry that Washington would exercise its UN Security Council veto against any such resolution.

"Our expectation is that the United States will stand by its position for the past 47 years that a solution to the conflict will be achieved through negotiations, and I do not see a reason for this policy to change," Netanyahu told reporters after a meeting in Rome that lasted some three hours.

Many argue that a US veto risks running contrary to Washington's avowed aim of a Palestinian state and would anger key Arab allies – many of whom are much-needed partners in the US-led coalition against Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militant group.

However, Arab countries have long been silent on the Palestinian cause or merely used it as a rhetorical talking point.

Netanyahu also said that growing European backing for a two-state solution could harm Israel.

"I said that the attempts of the Palestinians and of several European countries to force conditions on Israel will only lead to a deterioration in the regional situation and will endanger Israel," he said in a statement.

"Therefore, we will strongly oppose this," he added.

The roots of the Israel-Palestine conflict date back to 1917, when the British government, in the now-infamous "Balfour Declaration," called for "the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people."

Israel occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank during the 1967 Middle East War. It later annexed the holy city in 1980, claiming it as the capital of the self-proclaimed Zionist state – a move never recognized by the international community.

In 1988, Palestinian leaders led by Yasser Arafat declared the existence of a state of Palestine inside the 1967 borders and the state's belief "in the settlement of international and regional disputes by peaceful means in accordance with the charter and resolutions of the United Nations."

Heralded as a "historic compromise," the move implied that Palestinians would agree to accept only 22 percent of historic Palestine in exchange for peace with Israel. It is now believed that only 17 percent of historic Palestine is under Palestinian control following the continued expansion of illegal Israeli settlements.

The Palestinian Authority (PA) this year set November 2016 as the deadline for ending the Israeli withdrawal from the territories occupied by Israel during the Six-Day War in 1967 and establishing a two-state solution.

It is worth noting that numerous pro-Palestine activists support a one-state solution in which Israelis and Palestinians would be treated equally, arguing that the creation of a Palestinian state beside Israel would not be sustainable.

They also believe that the two-state solution, which is the only option considered by international actors, won't solve existing discrimination, nor erase economic and military tensions.

(Reuters, Al-Akhbar)

RELATED Videos