Written by Mona Soukkariyeh

 

Translated by Rabab Housseiny

 

 

 

Political milieus in Palestine and the Arab region, nay worldwide, are keeping vigil as Palestinians brace with concern for the impending step on September 20, the date of Mahmoud Abbas's meeting with UN's Ban Ki-moon to hand down a dossier prepared by the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), Palestinian Authority, and PLO's negotiations bureau.  The dossier enfolds a series of studies as well as legal, political, executive, and media work papers related to Palestine's application to full membership admittance to the United Nations.

 

 

 

Also in September, Lebanon, duly represented by Ambassador to the UN Nawwaf Salam, will be chairing the Security Council's meeting as per the non-permanent Member States' periodic presidency.

 

The dossier mainly differentiates between the recognition of a Palestinian state within June 4, 1967 borders and East Jerusalem as its capital, and the admittance of the Palestinian state as a full member to the UN. "The recognition is one thing and the admittance is another," said Salam.

 

 

 

 A specialized multinational team has contributed, in tandem with a team from the PLO negotiations bureau, to finalizing legal grounds upholding the recognition of the Palestinian state and its admittance to the United Nations.

 

As follows, some of the aforementioned legal bases:

 

- The 1922 confirmation by the international community, as per the League of Nations Convention, of the Palestinian people's right to self-determination and sovereignty;

 

- The recognition by the United Nations, successor of the League of Nations in 1947, of the Palestinian people's right to self-determination and establishment of an independent state;

 

 - Resolution 181 issued on October 29, 1947, by the UN General Assembly stipulating the establishment of two states, one Palestinian, one Israeli, under the British mandate;

 

- The frequent calls by the UN on different occasions to confirm the Palestinian people's right to self-determination and sovereignty;

 

- Israel's commitment to the terms and provisions of Resolution 181; 

 

- Israel's signature on Oslo Accords, that is to say its recognition of the Palestinian people's right to self-determination;

 

- The Palestinian territories occupied by Israel since 1967 constitute the geographical unity for the Palestinian people to practice their right to self-determination;

 

 - The international recognition of the Palestinian people's right to self-determination has become a legal right;

 

- The invalidity of Israel's confiscation of lands within the Palestinian territories including East Jerusalem;

 

- The recognition of the State of Palestine along 1967 borders and East Jerusalem as its capital is deemed compliant with the international law and UN resolutions;

 

- Palestine's fulfillment of all the international legal criteria to establish said state and to join the international community, as per the 1993 Montevideo Convention on the rights and duties of States, including the state's enjoying a permanent population, a defined territory, a government, and the capacity to enter into relations with the other states;  

 

- The recognition of a Palestinian state complies with the criteria accepted by the international community to solve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict;

 

 - Oslo Accords

 

 - The recognition by 100 states after the declaration by the National Palestinian Council in its 1988 session in Algeria the establishment of the State of Palestine, prior to any agreement between PL and Israel;

 

- Israeli violations of agreements inked with the PLO only curb the possibility to realize the two-state solution.

 

 

 

The Recognition Option 

 

The Palestinian Authority calls to carry on efforts so as to obtain the recognition of states which have not yet recognized "the State of Palestine along 1967 borders and East Jerusalem as its capital," considering that "the recognition is a sovereign decision for each state member to the UN General Assembly."

 

Moreover, there is a proposition to form joint Palestinian and Arab working committees to work in the 5 continents to follow up on the recognition of a Palestinian state along 1967 borders and East Jerusalem as its capital. Indeed, President Mahmoud Abbas had avowed that this recognition would not contradict in any way whatsoever with the efforts exerted to resume final-stage negotiations."

 

 The dossier, which was distributed within the frame of a media campaign leveled to reap support for the admittance of Palestine as a full member to the UN, relayed the executive process of the admittance application. The Palestinian Authority stresses herein the importance to engage in a dialogue with the US administration to assure that it would not use the veto prone to curb the acceptance of a Palestinian membership to the UN.

 

"The State of Palestine is ready to join the international community and it fulfills the UN full membership terms according to the stipulations of Montevideo Convention on the rights and duties of states, including the state's enjoying a permanent population, a defined territory, a government, and the capacity to enter into relations with the other states, in addition to the recognition by the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the European Union that the necessary institutional rules to establish the State of Palestine are today ready.

 

 

 

 

 

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