Indeed. It is a train wreck waiting to happen. Those agitating for statehood want the U.N. to leapfrog “Palestine” over the normal criteria both to be a state, and to act like one. They hope that what the U.N. starts, it will feel obliged to finish, as the new state would be dependent on continuing outside aid and mediation lest it consume itself in infighting over factionalism, corruption, and the implementation of Sharia. And it would remain openly hostile to Israel, which it will not recognize as a Jewish state, but only as a land mass it has plans for — including another train wreck known as the “right of return.”
Some in the West, such as Spain’s foreign minister, do not seem to see much of a problem with granting an aspirational, not-ready-for-prime-time state, as long as it gives Palestinians “hope.” But “hope” does not make a governable state. And due diligence would suggest asking the Palestinian Authority and Hamas what exactly is they would be “hoping” for.
“Palestinian statehood bid ‘dangerous’: France,” from Agence France-Presse, September 2:
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said Friday that a bid by Palestinians to win UN recognition as a state would risk triggering a dangerous diplomatic confrontation.
Palestinians, frustrated by the failure of the frozen US-sponsored peace process with Israel, plan to campaign for recognition at the UN General Assembly later this month.
Frustrated? They have squandered 31 opportunities for statehood. At the 2000 Camp David summit, “Clinton exploded at the Palestinians over their refusal to make a counteroffer. “˜A summit’s purpose,” Clinton said, “˜is to have discussions that are based on sincere intentions and you, the Palestinians, did not come to this summit with sincere intentions.–
“France hopes that they use the occasion for reopening the path to dialogue rather than risking a futile and dangerous diplomatic confrontation,” Juppe told an annual gathering of French ambassadors.
Indeed, it will be an occasion for blackmail. The denial of a state will become the next pretext for violence.