The “Palestine” to be voted on at the U.N. does not meet the criteria for statehood under international law. Abbas wants the U.N. to rip the proverbial training wheels off of the Palestinian entity when it has never even been able to function like a state with them. If its past few years of governing Palestinian territories have been a trial run, the Palestinian Authority has failed miserably.
Even the Obama administration appears to recognize a disaster waiting to happen. “Report: US threatened to halt aid if PA goes to UN,” by Eilor Levy for the Associated Press, August 21:
Associated of Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad say that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton threatened in a phone conversation to halt the American aid to the Palestinians if they ask the United Nations to recognize an independent Palestinian state in September.
The sources noted that Clinton told Fayyad that this would happen if the Palestinians fail to give the American administration a chance to resume peace negotiations with Israel. The sources added that Fayyad relayed the message to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
For any peace negotiations, there is also the matter of the PA’s reconciliation with Hamas. The PA cannot simultaneously be for peace with Israel and cooperating with a group that is actively and openly out to destroy the Jewish state.