Despite U.S.-Israeli Pressure; P.A. Refuses To Alter Text Of UN Application

Tuesday November 27, 2012 18:22 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

Despite enormous pressures practiced by the United States and Israel, and all threats impose heavy financial sanctions besides the sanctions that are already in place, the Palestinian Authority (P.A.) in the West Bank said that it will not void or alter the text of its UN application that will be voted on at the General Assembly this Thursday.

FIle -- Maan Images

Israeli daily, Haaretz, reported that, after failing to convince President Mahmoud Abbas not to file the Palestinian bid, Tel Aviv and Washington conducted various attempts to convince the Palestinians to alter the text of their bid in order to ensure that, in the future, the Palestinians will never be able to head to the International Criminal Court to sue Israel for war crimes against the Palestinian people.

The Palestinian side even went ahead and distributed, on Tuesday morning, the final draft of the application that will be filed to the UN asking the International Community to recognize Palestine as a nonmember state at the United Nations, and to grant it an “Observer State” statue.

The U.S. and Israel tried to add two sections to the Palestinian bid, hoping to be able to change it so that the Palestinians can never sue Israel for its crimes, and can never have real sovereignty in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and occupied East Jerusalem under any future peace agreement.

But the P.A. remained determined on its stance, and told Tel Aviv and Washington that the Palestinians, as any other nation in this world, have the right to be represented among the International Community, and have the right to enjoy the legal status enjoyed by all independent nations.

An Israeli official, directly involved in the issue, claimed that the United States did not exert enough pressure on the P.A. an issue that enabled the Palestinians to remain determined to go ahead with their application.

Both the U.S. and Tel Aviv imposed harsh financial sanctions of the P.A. after it received a full member status at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and other UN organizations, and claimed that the Palestinian applications are “unilateral moves that obstruct the efforts to achieve a final status peace agreement in the Middle East”.

The P.A repeatedly said that heading to the United Nations is not meant at isolating Israel, or to replace the peace process, and added that Israel’s ongoing violations, including invasions, attacks, assassinations, and the illegal construction and expansion of Jewish settlements in the occupied territories, including in and around occupied East Jerusalem, in addition to the demolition and takeover of Arab homes, especially in Jerusalem, indicate the Israel is not really interested in a just and comprehensive peace deal with the Palestinians.

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