posted on Jan, 2 2013 @ 03:03 PM
The UN vote to upgrade the status of "Palestine" to a non member observer status was something of a diplomatic defeat for Israel, so the Israelis
responded with a controversial political initiative of its own: building 3,000 new homes in the biblical heartland of Judea and Samaria (the so called
'West Bank') and East Jerusalem, infuriating the US, EU, UK, France, Spain, Denmark etc in the process.
The world accused Israel of provocation and praised the new "Palestine" at the same time.
The irony in all of this, however:
By turning to the UN to upgrade their status, the Palestinians violated their obligations set down in the Oslo Accords, which stipulate that they can
only become a state via direct negotiations with Israel.
On the other hand, Oslo accords do not require Israel to stop construction in the settlements, despite Palestinian and international claims to the
contrary.
Europe and US have been interferring Israels election campaign by accusing Netanyahu government of creating obstacles to peace. (Obama still wants to
teach Netanyahu a lesson because he supported Mitt Romney in the US elections).
But Europe lost all credibility with Israel when France and Spain (amongst others) voted for Palestinian statehood at the UN, and Germany and Britain
abstained.
Europe's excuse was that it needed to strengthen Abbas after Hamas got a boost in popularity for bombarding Israel with rockets during the Gaza
conflict. However, the decisive factor in convincing the Europeans to support "Palestine" was the Palestinian Authority's promise to resume
negotiations with Israel without preconditions immediately after the UN vote.
But when Israel announced the new settlement construction, the Palestinians had a convenient excuse not to deliver. After all, why should they
negotiate when the world is ready to hand them a state and blame Israel for any lack of progress?