Palestinians Take Another Step Toward Statehood
The Palestinians continue to pursue worldwide acceptance of their existence as a state, as a United Nations announcement on May 23 showed. The Palestinian Authority (PA) is now a member of the UN Industrial Development Organization and the Convention on the Prohibition, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons, as well as the UN Conference on Trade and Development (unctad) and the UN Industrial Development Organization (unido).
These actions came shortly after the United States moved its embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv on May 14. This symbolized the U.S.’s open recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. A few nations are following suit, but many others are furious at the U.S. for taking this action.
Although the UN does not officially recognize the PA as a full member state, it has been considered a “nonmember observer state” since 2012. Several UN bodies, including the International Criminal Court, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (unesco) and Interpol consider the Palestinian territories a state. Now three more UN bodies are supporting Palestinian statehood by accepting its bid for membership.
The Jerusalem Post called this “one more step toward de facto international recognition of statehood.” PA Foreign Ministry official Omar Awadallah told Wafa, a Palestinian news agency, that the PA seeks admission to UN organizations in order to strengthen its claims to the land Israel calls its own. With this goal in mind, the Palestinians have joined or signed up for over 50 UN organizations and agreements.
In 2012, both the U.S. and Israel opposed the Palestinians being granted the status of a UN “nonmember observer state.” However, it was passed by the UN General Assembly. Then in April 2015, the PA was granted membership in the International Criminal Court. According to Al-Jazeera, this “allows Palestinians to submit referrals to the organization asking its prosecutors to investigate alleged war crimes committed by the Israelis.” The U.S. and Israel weren’t thrilled about that either. In September 2017, the Palestinians were allowed to join Interpol.
The danger of including the Palestinians in Interpol is that the group is inextricably linked to terrorism. The New York Post wrote at the time: “It’s hard to think the world could get more dangerous, but it just did—as Interpol accepted the nonexistent ‘state of Palestine’ as a member. Who’s next, [the Islamic State]? …
“Think about it: Washington has designated Hamas, one of the two groups that run ‘Palestine,’ as a terrorist organization. The other, the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority, also backs terror, albeit less systematically.”
The PA supports these terrorists and their actions. The recent border clashes are a good example of this.
The U.S. and Israel have opposed these moves toward Palestinian statehood, but the rest of the world seems to agree that the Palestinians have a legitimate claim. Many hope that a two-state solution would bring peace to the Middle East: Just split the land of Israel in two and everyone will live happily ever after.
However, the rhetoric of Palestinian leaders shows that this is not the case. If world leaders would only listen to what the Palestinian leaders say, they would know that the Palestinians won’t be satisfied with only half of Israel. In a 1996 speech, late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat told an Arab audience in Sweden: “We plan to eliminate the State of Israel and establish a purely Palestinian state. We will make life unbearable for Jews by psychological warfare and population explosion.”
More recently, on January 14 this year, current Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas told the Palestinian General Council that Israel “is a colonial enterprise that has nothing to do with Jewishness. The Jews were used as a tool under the concept of the Promised Land—call it whatever you want. Everything has been made up” (emphasis added throughout).
As we wrote at the time, “How do you negotiate with someone who denies your historical existence?”
Abbas has also denied the existence of the ancient Jewish temple. He has said that archaeological digs in Israel are a Zionist attempt to “vindicate the Israeli narrative” and to “invent a history.” He claims that the Palestinians existed before Abraham. He has even publicly stated that he doubts the history of the Holocaust.
All this from a leader who has a Ph.D. in history. Abbas claims to be passionately seeking a two-state solution, but his rhetoric tells a different story.
Arafat said in 2001, “[W]e will all sacrifice ourselves for our holy places … we are willing to give 70 of our martyrs for every [Israeli] in this campaign, because this is our holy land. We will continue to fight for this blessed land ….” In his 1996 speech, he said, “We Palestinians will take over everything,including all of Jerusalem.” Does that sound like they would happily settle for only half?
Managing editor for theTrumpet.com Brad Macdonald wrote in an article titled “Why the Two-State Solution Won’t Work”: “For Israel, the creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank would be nothing less than an act of national suicide!”
https://youtu.be/Luc1QbSBuYQ
Although acceptance into these international bodies is a diplomatic win for the Palestinians, it will not lead to peace in the end. The UN may hope that extending an olive branch to the Palestinians will lead to a peaceful two-state solution, but nothing is further from the truth. Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry wrote in his booklet Jerusalem in Prophecy: “At the end of the day, whoever is in power among the Palestinians, there will be no peace in the Middle East as long as there are groups agitating for Israel’s destruction. The Palestinians are clearly not interested in making peace with Israel!”
One thing is sure: Recognizing Palestinian statehood is not going to bring peace to the Middle East. However, Jerusalem, the Middle East and the entire world will learn the way to peace one day, and the City of Peace will live up to its name once again.
To learn more about what is prophesied to happen in Jerusalem in the end time, please request Mr. Flurry’s free booklet Jerusalem in Prophecy.