What The Palestinians Can--And Cannot--Get From The UN In September

Elliot Abrams addresses that question in a post, answering the question of why Abbas is still pursuing the UN option.

First of all, Abrams clarifies the issue of the "Uniting for Peace" resolution in the UN, designed to allow for getting around a deadlock in the Security Council. This was originally described as a way for the Palestinians get around the expected US veto in the Security Council:

But UN lawyers soon clarified what is obvious on reading the Charter: that provision may be available for certain actions, especially dealing with threats to peace, but does not override the Charter provisions relating to membership. Chapter II, Article 4 says that “peace-loving states” that accept their obligations under the Charter are eligible for membership, but “The 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.”

This sends the Palestinians back to square one--requiring an affirmative recommendation by the Security Council before getting an affirmative vote in the General Assembly.

However, that does not leave the PA without options. Denied UN membership, the Palestinians could still get “permanent observer” status. The PLO became an observer as of 1974, but it is considered a permanent observer as an “entity”. This is as opposed to the Vatican which is a “non-member state” that is a permanent observer. Likewise, in the past, Switzerland, Austria, Finland, Italy, and Japan have all had a similar status on their way to becoming full members of the UN. The Palestinians could likewise get that “non-member state permanent observer” status.

However, as Abrams notes, there is still little to be gained. As observers, the Palestinian already are able to attend and speak at the UN sessions--and, most importantly, would still not get a vote.

This is reminiscent of last year, when the PLO representation in Washington had its status changed from representation to delegation. The only significant change was that the new status allowed the PLO to fly the Palestinian flag, while bringing US policy in line with the status upgrade the PLO received in Eurpoe.

Technorati Tag: Palestinians and PLO and UN.