Why is it that so many Palestinians feel ambivalent about the UN recognition bid?

While there was enthusiasm in the West Bank, there were no reported demonstrations in Gaza or in the Refugee camps. And in the USA there were even some Palestinian groups who were demonstrating AGAINST the bid.

How is this possible? Why do so many Palestinians feel ambivalent about the UN recognition bid?

Geography is the key.

Palestinians have continually lost territory since 1948. Their reactions to the UN statehood bid depend to a large degree on where they now find themselves - in the West Bank, in Gaza, inside Israel, or outside the area.

The recent history of the Israeli takeover of Palestine (the last 60 years or so) has meant that the Palestinians are now divided by geography into 5 different groups. Each group lives a different reality, and faces different problems. Their reactions to the UN proposal depend largely on where they live and what their problems are. 

  

1. There are about 2.4 million Palestinians living in the West Bank. For over 44 years they have been living under a brutal Israeli military dictatorship. Military law means they have no basic human rights. They don’t have the right to vote for the government which controls them. Their land is being continuously taken over by Israeli settlers are protected by the IDF. On a daily basis, they face walls, checkpoints, curfews, military control by the IDF.

 2.There are about 1.5 million Palestinians who live inside the current State of Israel. They constitute a minority of about 20% of the Israeli population. After the creation of the state of Israel in 1948, most of them lost their lands which were taken over by the State of Israel. They live in certain cities, and do have certain rights – the right to vote is one – but they live under a highly discriminatory regime in which by law more rights are given to Jews than to non Jews. One small example. Both populations (Jewish and Palestinian) are expanding. Since 1948, Israel has created over 600 new Jewish municipalities. It has not allowed the creation of one single Palestinian community. In fact, it is almost impossible for the existing Palestinian communities to grow. So overcrowding is becoming a huge problem for them.

3. There are about 1.4 million Palestinians living in Gaza. Gaza has been described by UK Prime Minister Cameron as “an open air prison”. Their living standards are abominable, according to UN reports. Most of those people living in Gaza, are not “from Gaza”. They are themselves refugees from inside Israel who were never allowed to return. They want out. They want to produce goods and trade with the outside world, but are blockaded inside.

4. There are about 4 million Palestinians living in refugee camps in Jordan, in Lebanon, and in Syria. They were forced to leave Israel in 1948, and now they and their families have been squatting in refugee camps – many are denied citizenship in their new country but also denied the right to return to the country they were born in.

5. Finally, there are another million or two Palestinians wandering around the world in a huge Palestinian diaspora. Many fled to Kuwait, or Saudia Arabia in search of opportunity. Many of those then subsequently immigrated elsewhere – about 50,000 of them came to Canada. Some of them even brought with them the documents which show they are the legal owner of houses in Israel but which are now occupied by Jewish immigrants.

Now let’s take a look at the UN bid for statehood. How do the different Palestinian communities view it?

1. Those in the West Bank, in general, are highly supportive. We saw pictures of giant demonstrations in Ramallah when Abbas made his speech at the UN. Polls show that 83% of Palestinians in the WB support the move. Of course, for those living under Israeli occupation, the main thing is to get the Israeli soldiers – and the illegal settlers – out of the occupied territories.

Nonetheless, even there, there is some hesitation. The creation of a “State of Palestine” on only 22% of the original land of Palestine, a new state which has almost no water supplies (as Israel has captured all the aquifers), no sea port, etc. etc. seems to have rather little potential for economic development.

Ramallah is doing rather well economically today, mostly because of the huge amount of foreign aid that is coming in. Whether the new “State of Palestine’ would be able to develop economically on its own, is not clear. And if the new state of Palestine finds itself stuck in poverty, while Israel, which has taken the best land and most of the water continues to develop, how does that bode for future relations between the two?

And the current talks only envisage a ‘demilitarized” state of Palestine. How will it deal with the issues that every state has to deal with from smuggling, drug running, to external threats, etc? Is this really a state at all?

2. For those Palestinians who live inside Israel, the creation of a “State of Palestine” actually raises some worries. Although they are Israeli citizens, they suffer tremendous discrimination in a state that openly gives preference to Jews. They face discrimination in housing, in education, in employment. They also face rising “anti Arab” racism in Israel. There have recently been reports of ‘mosque burnings” in Israel – actions somewhat reminiscent of the Ku Klux Klan in the southern US.

They fear that if the State of Palestine is recognized, the world will forget them. The Palestinian citizens of Israel are also afraid that, Israel will become a “Jewish state” in which the rights of non-Jews are even more limited. Already there are some extremist Jewish groups which say that Israel should be ‘ethnically cleansed’ by kicking all of the Palestinians inside Israel over into the new state.

3. For the Palestinians living in Gaza, Abbas’ proposal is also a bit of a quandary. There were no celebrations in Gaza when Abbas spoke to the UN. Part of that was undoubtedly because Hamas opposed the move. But there are deeper issues. Gaza will still not be attached to the rest of the country. And there is little evidence that even if Palestine is recognized by the UN, Israel will let up its punishing economic blockade. The Israelis are certainly not going to facilitate trade and commerce. So what’s in it for the Gazans?

4. For the 4 million Palestinians living in refugee camps – in Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon, the proposed state – at least under Mr. Abbas’ leadership - is also highly problematic. The leaked “Palestine Papers” – if accurate – seem to show that Mr. Abbas was so keen to have a State of Palestine in the West Bank, that he was prepared to almost completely drop the “right of return” for those in the refugee camps. According to the leaked documents, Abbas’ negotiators were willing to accept a “token number of refugees – perhaps 5000 or so” and leave it at that. For those who have been living in the squalour of refugee camps for over 60 years, there are fears that Mr. Abbas is willing to “leave them out to dry” in return for becoming the head of a small Palestinian state.

5. And finally for the rest of the Palestinians in the diaspora – in  Kuwait, or Saudi Arabia, or Canada or the USA, the discomfort is palpable. In fact there were demonstrations by American Palestinians in front of the UN against the UN recognition vote. They complain that Abbas, who claims to speak for the whole of the Palestinian people, put this forward without any broad discussion on what strategy should be followed.

They also worry that this move might actually cut them off from the UN. Today, the UN accepts the PLO as the representative of the Palestinian people. If the State of Palestine gets recognition at the UN, that recognition will probably limit itself to those who live in the new state. In other words, the Palestinians who are not in the new state – the refugees and the diaspora would lose their voice at the UN.

Should Canada vote in favour? Of course it should. I understand completely and sympathize with the desire of those living in the West Bank to get finally rid of the brutal Israeli occupation, and be rid of the illegal settlers who are taking over more and more of their land. The vote will further isolate Israel and the United States.

But we should also remember that even if Palestine is recognized as a member state at the UN, there are a lot of other issues of justice and human rights for Palestinians that are still unadressed.