Only in our absurd world, terror is rewarded with statehood - opinion

Only in the world of the absurd can a despicable purveyor of terror, Hamas, carry out a brutal massacre, killing over a thousand innocent people, torturing, murdering, and carrying out sadistic mass rape, and all this over a space of a few hours, and then run-away home to Gaza, taking with them hundreds of hostages.

Only in the world of the absurd can the Palestinian representative organization that encourages, finances, supports and represents such Hamas murderers, be feted and upgraded by the majority of member states in the international community.

Only in the world of the absurd can a group of non-democratic, terror-supporting states oblige the United Nations General Assembly by proposing a resolution that indulges in pampering a terror-supporting entity in a misguided and surreal demonstration of naïveté, of skewed political correctness and acute hypocrisy.

Only in the same world of the absurd can a majority of 143 states parrot their support for what they blindly proclaim to be a “two-state solution” without really understanding what they are talking about, out of total ignorance and stupidity.

And only in the world of the absurd can the majority of the international community deliberately ignore and turn a blind eye to the openly declared genocidal intentions of Iran, Hamas and the Palestinian liberation organization in their efforts to eliminate the Jewish state and kill all Jews. And this while at the same time, nevertheless upgrading the Palestinian representation in the UN.

And only in the world of the absurd can all this happen at the same time as incited and handsomely financed and organized groups of violent, hysterical antisemitic demonstrators, occupy campuses and town centers in the US and European cities, calling for the elimination of the only Jewish state.

The resolution ultimately doesn't grant Palestinians statehood 

DESPITE THE artificial hype surrounding this resolution, the bottom line is that this upgrade does not grant the Palestinians the status of statehood or UN membership that they wished to receive. The UN General Assembly has neither the authority nor jurisdiction to establish states and grant membership status without Security Council sanction.

The sad naïveté and hypocrisy of those states that proposed and voted in favor of this curious new General Assembly resolution are evident in their stated determination in the body of the resolution to the effect that “the State of Palestine is qualified for membership in the UN in accordance with article 4 of the UN Charter.”

UN Charter article 4 requires that membership in the United Nations be open to “all other peace-loving states which accept the obligations contained in the present Charter.”

One may legitimately ask if the self-respecting states voting in favor of this resolution – including Russia, China, Norway, Japan, South Korea, and Australia, as well as EU member states Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, France Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain – genuinely believe that the Palestinians are, or could be a ‘peace-loving state’, or is this just self-delusion, artificial political correctness or naive wishful thinking?

Since international law requires the fulfillment of certain criteria for statehood in addition to being a peace-loving state, including responsible governance and the capability of respecting international obligations, it is patently clear that this resolution is nothing more than a sad and miserable fiction: a sham.

Clearly no element of the Palestinian existence – whether this be the infamous and brutal terror organization Hamas or the terror supporting PLO and its Palestinian Authority – can seriously claim to fulfill such criteria.

The resolution, like all General Assembly resolutions, is not binding, but recommendatory. It does not represent international law and only reflects the political views of those states that proposed and supported it.

The various modalities listed in the resolution for improving the seating and speaking order of the Palestinian delegates in the General Assembly’s chamber and in other UN bodies, and the upgrading of their participation in meetings and conferences, are nothing more than cosmetic, symbolic lip-service.

DESPITE ITS call for full Palestinian membership, the resolution distinctly denies and negates any notion of full membership in the UN. As such, the Palestinian delegation remains nothing more than an observer delegation, wherever and however they may be seated.

The resolution stresses that they have no entitlement to vote and have no right to membership of UN organs, including the Security Council.

However, in the context of the Palestinian obligations set out in the Oslo Accords, this attempted change of status constitutes a serious and fundamental violation of the agreed obligation not to change that status of the territories pending the outcome of the permanent status negotiations.

The Palestinian leadership and Israel agreed that all outstanding issues, including the permanent status of the territories, must be resolved through negotiations and cannot be determined by unilateral action, whether in the UN or anywhere else.

Even the UN itself, in several resolutions, has given its endorsement to the Oslo Accords as the only agreed means to resolve the Israel-Palestinian dispute.

Similarly, the EU, Russia, Egypt and Norway together with the US are signatories to the Oslo Accords as witnesses. A vote in favor of this new resolution by these witnesses serves to undermine the accords and is clearly contrary to the accepted obligations of states and organizations that witness international agreements.

In fact, by supporting this new resolution, they seek to bypass the requirements in the Oslo Accords for negotiation of the permanent status of the territories, and they attempt to unilaterally prejudge the outcome of any such negotiations.

Despite the artificial and ineffectual symbolic and cosmetic aspects of this resolution, the overall result of the exercise is nevertheless grave and unfortunate. It is seen by Hamas and the Palestinian leadership as a green light from the international community for them to continue to support and be involved in terror.

The regrettable message emanating from this resolution is that the international community is not just turning a blind eye to Palestinian terror against a fellow UN member state – it is encouraging it.

The writer, a leading international lawyer, served as the legal adviser to Israel’s Foreign Ministry, and as ambassador to Canada. He presently heads the international law program at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.