UN To Vote On Palestinian Statehood and Obama Is Trapped In A Catch 22

Here are two headlines from Yahoo News yesterday and today: Stakes high as Mideast envoys try to defuse UN row and  Diplomats scramble ahead of Palestinian UN bid. What is all the brouhaha about? Well, the Palestinian Authority is petitioning the UN to recognize Palestine as a state, as a nation among the world of nations if you will. There seems to be some confusion as to whether the petition for statehood will be addressed by the UN General Assembly or by the UN Security Council or both.

If the petition is heard by the UN General Assembly, it is a forgone conclusion that the Assembly ( a brotherhood of third world totalitarian socialist countries ) will approve Palestine as a state. The US has no veto power in the General Assembly. If the petition is heard by the UN Security Council, the US does have veto power. But why would Obama want to veto the statehood of Palestine? Isn’t statehood for Palestine exactly what he has been pushing for since the day he took office? Didn’t he say before the UN nearly a year ago that he looked forward to welcoming Palestine as the newest member of the United Nations? That’s true. So why then is the Obama administration in a state of panic to try to stop the issue of Palestinian statehood from being addressed by the UN? That, my friends is a question worth pursuing.

When it comes to the issues of Israel, Palestine and the whole of the Middle-East, Barack Obama rushed in where angels fear to tread. From the day Obama took office, he has made it clear the he, The Chosen  One, was going to change over sixty years of US policy in the Middle-East and he, The Chosen One, would finally bring about peace between Israel and the Palestinians. It was crystal clear  to The Chosen One that, for over sixty years,  US policy in the Middle-East had been too one-sided in favor of Israel. As a result, we had unnecessarily made enemies among the Arab and Muslim nations. He was going to correct that situation. Obama believed that by supporting the Palestinians and bullying Israel into withdrawing from the so-called occupied territories and returning to the pre-1967  borders that there could finally be a state of Palestine and that there would be peace. How arrogant is that? Why would he believe there would be peace? Well, The Chosen One had a plan to make peace  with all the Muslim world. He went to Cairo in June of 2009 and made an elegant speech and his State Department participated in training young Arabs to rebel against their totalitarian leaders and bring democracy to their counties, the Arab Spring. How arrogant was that? With the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and al-Qaeda in Libya and ever more belligerent Iran, it would appear that the Arab Spring is becoming an Arab Winter. But, for today, let’s stay on the subject of Palestinian statehood.

So, is all that is going on this week due to Obama’s arrogance? After all, arrogance has been a common trait among American presidents. Teddy Roosevelt was arrogant. Woodrow Wilson was arrogant. Franklin D. Roosevelt was the king of arrogance until King Barry came along. Richard Nixon and Lyndon Johnson were also arrogant. In my opinion, what we are seeing in Obama’s handling of the Israel-Palestinian issue is the result of a coupling of monumental arrogance with monumental ignorance. Obama’s demonstrated ignorance of the history of the Israeli and Palestinian region is indeed monumental. Let’s go through a brief and simplified version of that history.

Prior to 1948 there existed a territory known as Palestine and it had been under the governance of Great Britain for some time. Now, it is important to note that words are important. This territory known as Palestine was not a Palestinian nation. There was no recognized nation of any kind in this territory. To my knowledge, there has never in history been a nation of Palestine. Someone please correct me if I am wrong about this. There was once, however, a nation known as Israel. Its exact borders are a matter of dispute; but, there was once in this region a nation known as Israel. On November 29, 1947, United Nations Resolution 181 was passed. In essence, UN Resolution 181 called for Great Britain to withdraw from the territory which would then be partitioned into two states; a state for the Jews and a state for the Palestinians. The resolution also contained special provisions for the City of Jerusalem. So, what happened? What happened is that the Jews accepted UN Resolution 181 and the state of Israel was born. The Palestinians, however, did not accept UN Resolution 181 and a Palestinian state was not born. And, there was no peace in the region. After defending itself in several wars and winning these wars, Israel in 1967 decided for their own security they would annex some of the lands conquered in war to create a buffer zone that would make it easier in the future to defend their nation.

Okay, let’s get back to the present. Obama in his infinite wisdom has altered America’s foreign policy from one that favored its ally Israel to one that favors the Palestinians. He has made it clear in his infinite wisdom that a peace accord between Israel and the Palestinians will occur in his presidency. This will be his legacy. This will make his place in history. Unfortunately, Benjamin Netanyahu and his government are not cooperating with The Chosen One. Why? Because, for one thing, The Chosen One has insisted that the only way there can be a peace accord is if Israel agrees before hand to agree to return to its pre-1967 borders. And by the brief and simplified history presented above, you can see that only a fool would believe that is going to happen. But it gets worse. Obama’s new best friend, Mahmoud Abbas is no fool. He knows that the peace talks with Israel are going nowhere.  From the point of view of Abbas, he is making a very smart strategic move. He i s planning to petition the UN to recognize the state of Palestine and give Palestine a seat in th UN General Assembly. This would place Israel in a difficult negotiating position to be sure.  Also, it would appear that Obama’s new best friend is no friend at all.  Abbas has let it be known that instead of going only to the UN General Assembly with is petition which no one can veto, he may take his petition first to the UN Security Council and force Mr. Obama’s hand. If Obama vetoes a UN approval of statehood for Palestine, it will prove he was never a friend of the Arab world. For example, Saudi Arabia threatens to split with US if Obama vetos Palestinian statehood bid. If he doesn’t use his veto power, the Arab world, the enemies of Israel, will undoubtedly react with violence toward Israel. It is a lose- lose situation of Obama’s own doing.. And this why we have the headlines in the news that were linked at the beginning of this post. The Obama administration is desperately trying to get Abbas to with draw his petition for statehood. Will Abbas backdown? If so, at what price?

Obama, through his arrogance and ignorance, has put himself in a Catch- 22 position. Through his arrogance and ignorance, Obama’s mis-steps with the Arab Spring and his mis-steps with the Israelis and the Palestinians my have put the world at risk of a major war in the Middle-East.

Well, that’s what I’m thinking. What are your thoughts?

Tagged: Arab Spring, Benjimin Natanyahu, Mahmoud Abbas, Middle-East Peace, Obama, Palestinian National Authority, Palestinian Statehood, Saudi Arabia, UN General Assemby, UN Resolution 181, UN Security Council, United Nations, War in Middle East

Posted in: Obama's Arrogance and Ignorance.