The Issue Of "Palestinian Statehood"

Caroline Glick weighs in on this pending issue of "Palestinian Statehood", which will be coming up this summer when the UN takes a vote on the topic:

Palestinian Statehood

As America marks the 10th anniversary of the September 11 jihadist attacks, the Palestinian Authority's well-publicized plan to achieve UN recognition of a Palestinian state in all of Judea, Samaria, Gaza and northern, southern and eastern Jerusalem will reach its denouement.

Below, she describes the process - at least as it should be followed - and as she points out, the "normal" rules never apply to Israel:

The UN Charter spells out the procedure through which new states receive membership. The procedure dictates that the Security Council must recommend to the General Assembly that a state receive membership.

Following the Security Council recommendation, the General Assembly calls a vote. If two-thirds of the UN member states vote in favor of recognition, a state is accepted as a member state.

In the Palestinian case, General Assembly support is a forgone conclusion; 118 out of 192 UN member nations already recognize "Palestine."

Legally the General Assembly cannot act without Security Council sanction. So if the US vetoes a Security Council resolution on the issue, the General Assembly would be formally barred from moving forward.

But legal norms applied to the nations of the world are rarely applied to the Palestinians. Consequently, it is possible that the General Assembly will illegally vote on Palestinian statehood even without a Security Council recommendation to do so.

Below, she proceeds to describe the scenario which would presumably follow such actions:

As we approach the September deadline, the question we need to consider is what the concrete consequences of Palestinian membership in the UN would be? What new anti-Israel activities will international organizations and states engage in following such a move? And how can we meet those challenges? In general, the acceptance of "Palestine" will present us with new threats from three different actors: the International Criminal Court, the EU and the US.

Looking ahead, we need to consider how they may escalate their hostile behavior and develop plans to minimize the damage Europeans can cause the economy. Unfortunately, the chattering classes are behaving as though when faced with the specter of further European economic sanctions, we have no option other than to throw ourselves at Europe's feet and beg for mercy. But this is ridiculous.

AS THE 18 years since Oslo have shown, begging Europeans for mercy on the basis of concessions to the Palestinians is a losing strategy. Europe is not interested in displaying mercy toward the Jewish state, and it does not view any concessions as sufficient.

Ok, no help from Europe - got it. What about the U.S.?

This brings us to the US. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's greatest fear is that President Barack Obama will fail to veto a Security Council resolution recommending General Assembly approval of Palestinian membership in the UN. The gloom and doomers advise the premier the only way to avert this prospect is to render such a resolution superfluous by preemptively capitulating to all of Obama's demands.

Obama has let it be known that he expects Netanyahu to announce his surrender in an address before both Houses of Congress in May. And this makes sense from his perspective. If Netanyahu gives a speech before Congress in which he effectively embraces Obama's anti-Israel positions as his own, he would make it practically impossible for Republican lawmakers and presidential candidates to criticize those policies.

Perversely, if Netanyahu bows to Obama's wishes, he will not avert US support for Palestinian UN membership and UN recognition of Palestinian sovereignty in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria and Gaza. He will facilitate it by making it appear noncontroversial.

What we are witnessing are events which are explicitly detailed in biblical prophecy: The world is collectively turning against Israel.

When the coalition of anti-Israel nations and terrorists prepare to attack Israel there will be no one in the world who will step forward in order to protect Israel, or to fight on their behalf. No one.

Israel will have one option: To turn to God for protection, as they have so many times throughout biblical history.

And we also know that God will not let them down. When the nation of Israel - in an act of desperation - turns to God, He will deliver as promised. The entire world will witness His actions - actions which will undeniably be coming directly from God Himself.

We're living in a biblical age. And the world is just on the brink of seeing the hand of God and definitive proof of His existence.

The single biggest question a Christian must ask is this: How much longer will we be here, on this earth?

According to the signs - not much longer.