Palestinian UN Vote Was a Calamity - Adam Garfinkle (American Interest) Embedded
in the UN General Assembly resolution on making Palestine an
observer-status state are statements about borders and the status of
Jerusalem that represent maximalist Palestinian positions. It specifies
the borders of Palestine as those of the West Bank and Gaza before the
June 1967 war. It also designates east Jerusalem as the capital of this
state.
This means that it will be harder for any future
Palestinian leader to accept less than the UN resolution text has staked
out. The same goes for Jerusalem. If these two issues are essentially
taken off the table as items for discussion and compromise, it makes the
ultimate prospect of a deal that much more remote.
The simplest
way to interpret PA motives here is to conclude that it isn't interested
in a final peace settlement with Israel, but would rather pursue
incremental tactical advances in a patient overall strategy aimed at
first delegitimizing and ultimately destroying Israel. What the
Palestinians have done is very likely to persuade ever more Israelis
that they are not serious about peace. The writer is the editor of the American Interest.
Legal Implication of the UN Resolution on Palestine - Alan M.
Dershowitz (Gatestone Institute) The
General Assembly vote declaring that Palestine, within the pre-1967
borders, is a "state" would have nasty legal implications if it were
ever to be taken seriously by the international community. It would mean
that Israel is illegally occupying the Western Wall (Judaism's holiest
site), the Jewish Quarter of old Jerusalem (where Jews have lived for
thousands of years), the access road to the Hebrew University and other
areas necessary to the security of its citizens.
It would also
mean that Security Council Resolution 242, whose purpose was to allow
Israel to hold onto some of the territories captured during its
defensive 1967 war, would be overruled by a General Assembly vote -
something the UN Charter explicitly forbids. It would be the first time
in history that a nation was required to return all land lawfully captured in a defensive war. The writer is a professor at Harvard Law School. As per a recent UN tour, we were told that the General Assembly makes suggestions, the Security Council makes law.
Protecting the Contiguity of Israel: The E-1 Area and the Link Between Jerusalem and Maale Adumim - Nadav Shragai (ICA-Jerusalem
Center for Public Affairs)
Another Map Disproving E-1 Contiguity Claims (CAMERA)
Hamas Tells Fatah: Let's Fight Israel Together - Khaled Abu Toameh (Jerusalem Post)
Egyptian Presidential Candidates Accused of "Zionist Plot" Against State (Al
Arabiya)
Three former Egyptian presidential candidates have been accused of
espionage and plotting against the state, according to a complaint
referred by Egypt's public prosecutor on Tuesday. Mohammed ElBaradei,
Hamdein Sabahy and Amr Moussa are allegedly embroiled in a "Zionist
plot" to overthrow the Islamist-led government of Mohammed Morsi,
Egypt's al-Masry al-Youm reported.
Earlier this week, all three declared
their support of the ongoing sit-in in Cairo's Tahrir Square until
Morsi's constitutional decree is revoked. The complaint was filed by
Hamed Sadek, a lawyer, claiming that the opposition leaders "secretly
met Israel's former foreign minister Tzipi Livni to drum up domestic
turmoil and bring the country to its knees."
