With veto, US will lose big Wednesday, 14 September 2011 03:14

Arabs yesterday formally endorsed the Palestinian bid for recognition of their state by the United Nation at a meeting of the Arab League foreign ministers in Cairo.

A day earlier President Mahmoud Abbas had discussions with the leaders on the issue and the overwhelming concern was the reported US plan to veto the move despite what US President had said in his famous speech in Cairo University in June 2009: “The only resolution is for the aspirations of both sides to be met through two states, where Israelis and Palestinians each live in peace and security.”

He had reiterated that position at the UN General Assembly in September of that year. He said then: “… the goal is clear: Two states living side by side in peace and security – a Jewish state of Israel and a viable, independent Palestinian state with contiguous territory that ends the occupation that began in 1967…”

All that seems to have changed with the serious Palestinian resolve to take the statehood issue to the United Nations. Reports indicate Obama administration is near-certain to use its veto at the UN.

The United Nations Charter states that “any admission of any such state to membership in the United Nations will be effected by a decision of the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council.”

In order for Palestine or any state to be admitted in to the UN, it’s application must not be vetoed by any of the five permanent members (China, France, Russia, UK and the US) of the Security Council. One example is Taiwan, although recognised by some UN members, it is not a member of the UN because China opposes that and claims sovereignty over it. Another is Kosovo, which is also not recognised by the UN, since two members of the Security Council have opposed its UN recognition bid.

Palestine is seeking either a full membership or recognition as a non-member state when the UN General Assembly convenes next week.

The US plan to use of its veto against the Palestinian bid portends to be a bad omen not only for the Palestinians but more so for the Americans themselves.

In an interview to Der Spiegel after Obama’s Cairo speech, Henry Kissinger commented that “Obama is like a chess player who is playing simultaneous chess and has opened his game with an unusual opening. Now he’s got to play his hand as he plays his various counterparts. We haven’t gotten beyond the opening game move yet.”

With the veto against the Palestinian state, Obama would have moved beyond his opening game and shown his true hand.

And in a world drastically transformed by the Arab Spring that would mean a very different reaction. Dictators allied to the US are gone and the people have taken matters into their own hands.

One possible reaction to the veto might be a third intifada in the Palestinian territories, this time with wide and active support by the Arab people. A US veto, for the Arab street, can only mean that Washington fully supports Israel and thus cannot play the role of mediator or peacekeeper and Middle East rulers will not be able to ignore that.

Prince Turki Al Faisal, former Saudi ambassador to the US, said it correctly when he wrote in his opinion piece in the New York Times on Sunday: “American support for Palestinian statehood is therefore crucial, and a veto will have profound negative consequences.”

He added: “With most of the Arab world in upheaval, the “special relationship” between Saudi Arabia and the United States would increasingly be seen as toxic by the vast majority of Arabs and Muslims, who demand justice for the Palestinian people.”

This is already happening. The recent attack on the Israel embassy in Cairo is just an example.

A veto would also show the hollowness of Washington’s avowed support support for Abbas and the Palestinian government and will give Hamas an excuse not to be bound by the Palestinian state and international laws.

The US should not be surprised if the Arab and Islamic world calls for a boycott of US products and projects just like what they did to Denmark over the deplorable cartoons of the Prophet Muhamamd (PBUH).

Besides the ongoing revolutions in the Middle East, the Arab and Muslim people can further pressure their governments to change the currency of trading from US dollar to another currency, mainly in oil.

Muslim- and Arab-Americans, who comprises more than 7 million of the US population, can also give a dissenting voice when they cast their vote in the US elections in 2012.

In the end, the US will be the one to lose most if they veto the Palestinian statehood bid.

The blossoming relationship between the US and the Arab world that US President Barack Obama sought in the beginning of his term would be destroyed by the US refusal to let Palestine be recognized as a state. Yes, Arab governments will still maintain diplomatic and political ties with the US but the people will no longer trust the US government.

President Obama should reread his words in his first address to the Muslim world in Cairo University: “America will not turn our backs on the legitimate Palestinian aspiration for dignity, opportunity and a state of their own.”

The Peninsula