"Palestinian envoy to UN: European states will recognize Palestine before September"

Here is an article for your consideration. Please read it in its entirety. I know it's long but there is nothing more important these days in our Christian lives than the welfare of Israel, the lostness of the Arabs, and prophecy being laid bare before us. Pray.

The following article from last night's Haaretz is extraordinary, and it resolved for me the feeling of imminence and burden I'd had all day. We know that in September, the United Nations may declare Palestine a sovereign state whose territory includes all of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem during its annual General Assembly meeting. Things are coming to a head with Israel, and the prophesied Psalm 83 war may be the result. It could be as soon as this fall. Let me give some background.

Psalm 83 is an intercessory prayer for success in a war that hasn't happened yet. It involves Israel and her neighbors. Here is more information about it.

Over the last two years the Palestinian Authority has been engaging in successful shuttle diplomacy, jetting around the world to pitch their notion that the Palestinians deserve a state with actual land and borders. Adding to the mix was a new idea: to leave the negotiating table with Israel and go directly to the UN and ask the UN to unilaterally vote a Palestine into being, and be done with it. This isn't unprecedented, that's how Israel got their state when General Assembly resolution 181 passed on November 29, 1947.

The PA shuttle diplomacy has paid off, though they are not a nation now, they have gotten over 100 countries to formally and diplomatically declare recognition of any such future Palestinian State.

Meanwhile Palestinian Authority has been working with the UN on the criteria for being "allowed" to be a state. They must prove to the UN that they have competency in 6 major areas, education, infrastructure, governance, economy and the like. Recently, the UN declared that the PA has achieved those criteria and were ready to become a nation if the UN Security Council voted so and the General Assembly followed up with a 2/3 affirmative vote. You'll read the Palestinian representative speaking to that in the news article below.

The UN itself has no authority to make this place or that place into a nation, but they lay the groundwork. After Israel was voted a nation in November 1947, the UK- which had occupied Palestine since 1917,  gathered its forces and on May 13, 1948 moved out. The next day, Israel declared its independence.

So back to the present. The PA has threatened to bring a resolution to the Security Council on making them a state. Here is how it is supposed to work as this UN fact sheet outlines: "The application is considered first by the Security Council. Any recommendation for admission must receive the affirmative votes of nine of the 15 members of the Council, provided that none of its five permanent members - China, France, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America – has voted against the application." Though nine votes are required from the Security Council to pass, five of those must be from the five permanent members. One 'no' vote kills it. It will never see the light of day in the General Assembly. The US has stated that they plant to veto any such resolution. Personally, I have my doubts that the US would stick to her guns, but the PA isn't taking any chances. The deadline for submitting any resolutions to the Security Council is Friday, July 15. That's tomorrow.

I'd read last week that they may skip the Security Council and go straight to the UN General Assembly. How can they do that? I'd wondered. That isn't the process. I searched and searched and kept my eyes and ears open, and finally found this article last night. In it, the PA explains how.

Palestinian envoy Riyad Mansour told Haaretz reporter in an interview that they will go directly to the General Assembly and ask for a vote. They say they have the necessary 130 votes for passage. When that happens, "they" [meaning the US] wouldn't dare withstand the will of 2/3 of the world. It seems that his reasoning is that it is easier to vote no when voting against 8 others, but they would not want to be the only naysayer against a Palestine state in the face of  130. It's about pressure. And if anything, Obama has shown that he eschews pressure and prefers going with the majority because it's less uncomfortable. That the Quartet failed this week to get both parties back to the negotiating table worked in the Palestinian's favor as you'll see near the end of the article.

The article is long but it is fascinating in the PA's specificity and confidence regarding their tactics. Of course it could be bluster. The article mentions stalemate, but we know that at some point the stalemate is broken because Israel's land is divided (Joel 3:2) and she gets her temple. (Dan 9:27; Mark 13:14). The pressure being brought to bear on this unbearable situation is heightening to where the Psalm 83 war seems likely in the next few months, in my opinion. IF this comes to pass as the PA suggests it will, Israel will not stand for the Arabs making themselves a nation on their land. There would be war, the Psalm 83 battle and perhaps also the fulfillment of the Isaiah 17:1 prophecy. If the situation does NOT come about as the PA states, the Arabs could be so upset that they could spark an 'Arab Summer' and simply revolt, as we have seen happens so easily in the region these days. Any way you slice it, the tension is ratcheting up to a level where it seems inevitable that armed conflict would be the result to break this stalemate. Psalm 83 could be that conflict.

Palestinian envoy to UN: European states will recognize Palestine before September
Riyad Mansour tells Haaretz that the Palestinian Authority's UN bid is last chance for a two-state solution.
By Barak Ravid

BUDAPEST − The Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, is in the forefront of the Palestinian diplomatic move − now gaining momentum − before the General Assembly meet in September. In the coming weeks, Mansour will submit to the UN secretary general an official request for Palestine to be accepted as a full member of the world body. Mansour hopes that September will see more than 130 countries voting in the General Assembly in favor of recognizing a Palestinian state, even if it does not receive full membership status.

What do you think about the fact that the Quartet [United States, Russia, the European Union, the United Nations] has not published a statement?

The Quartet decision to send envoys is a fancy way to say they failed. The Americans just could not deliver the Israelis.

Don’t you think that the Palestinian move in the UN is just symbolic and will not change anything on the ground?

The Israeli government is fighting us, saying that the international community should not let us do that. If it is symbolic, why are they fighting it so hard? It is definitely not symbolic.

What will happen if you don’t get the 130 votes that you are expecting?

If we go to a vote tomorrow, we will get two-thirds of the General Assembly. We have the votes. The significance of the number of votes is to maximize the pressure on the Security Council. What will be the argument of anyone to deprive us of the right to join the community of nations?

Do you think you will be able to get any EU member states to recognize the Palestinian state?

Just hold tight. You will be hearing interesting news soon about it before September.

Are you going to apply to the UN on July 15 and ask to become a full member?

We will apply when we are ready. Israel submitted it’s application in 1948 on the last week of the General Assembly session. They asked the Security Council to suspend the articles that dealt with time regimentation because of their special situation. It took Israel seven months to become a full member in May 1949. Look at South Sudan. It will take them two weeks to become a member, so the time procedures are not rigid.

But what will happen on the next day − after the UN resolution?

It is similar to [General Assembly] Resolution 181 in 1947. The following day nothing happened, but was Israel able to declare independence without 181? I don’t think so. We are going through the same process right now. The next day, the sun will rise from the east but the resolution will be historic and will lead the way for a declaration of independence. Huge things take time. Things will not change in 24 hours. All those who wish for a silver bullet, there is no such thing. But there is accumulation.

Do you see a Tahrir Square scenario in Ramallah?

It is not for me to decide but for the Palestinian people. Our people have a rich tradition of struggle and collective wisdom in doing what is proper. If they will believe and come to the conclusion that this battle is their battle, and not only the battle of Abu Mazen [Mahmoud Abbas] or Salam Fayyad, that will reflect itself. The Palestinian people are like the Egyptian people and are capable of doing remarkable things. But these things you don’t give orders for. If the Egyptian people managed to change the U.S. position in 18 days so that Obama told his ally Mubark to leave, what will the position of the international community be if the Palestinian people will say we what independence − and we want it now? We learned our lesson, and this is why our struggle will be peaceful, peaceful, peaceful. Why would anybody stand in our way?

You are not afraid to find yourselves in a third intifada?

I don’t want to give it names. It is just the will of the Palestinian people. If it exhibits itself in a peaceful way, it will enter the configuration of the dynamics of how to solve this situation. If the international community will not step up to the plate, as it should, and the Quartet is not doing anything, the Palestinian people who live under occupation might contribute in their own way.

You think that the Palestinians will conclude that the only way to change the situation is to resort to violence?

If there is violence, it is from the Israeli army. Our people in Bil’in demonstrated peacefully against the [separation] wall, and they have with them Israelis and internationals [foreigners]. Those who brought violence there was the occupying army.

You think that the lessons of the first intifada were learned?

Our actions speak for themselves. Take Bil’in as an example. Those who oppose our move in the UN are coming every week with a new story. The Palestinian people do not need credentials to prove that they are struggling peacefully to put an end to the occupation.

Are you worried from what might happen if the stalemate continues?

This is the last chance for the survival of the two-state solution. Israel will be responsible for what will come later. By going to the UN, we are trying to save the two-state solution. The danger is that we will get to the extreme possibilities of the one-state solution that is suicide for Israel. Something has to give. Israel can’t continue holding the stick at both ends.

Why are you going for a unilateral move, and not going back to the negotiating table?

Our independence is not a matter for negotiation. The Israelis in 1948 did not seek permission from anyone to declare their independence. We are no different. The negotiation should be on the six core issues − not on our right to a state and independence. Everyone is telling us that we have done a great job building our institutions, and that we are ready to govern ourselves. Should we wait until Netanyahu is ready to negotiate with us?

This is not a unilateral action. We engaged many countries bilaterally, and they recognized us. One hundred and twenty-two states and very soon we will have more than 130. This recognition is an investment in peace, not a unilateral action.

We are going for a multilateral action. When we go to the UN and we want to legislate the results of what we have done in the last two years, how is that unilateral?
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