Mahmoud Abbas presented his case to the UN today for full recognition of Palestine, while the Obama administration and the Israeli government threatened to fight it to the end. While Obama has repeatedly said that he supports statehood for Palestine, once it became clear that the Palestinian Authority would go to the UN, he made an about turn, probably to prove to his Republican opponents that he was more pro-Israel than anyone else.
Now I’m no supporter of a two state solution. Hell, I am not even a supporter of states. But the possibility of a viable Palestinian state that is able to provide food, healthcare, housing, and jobs to its own people and that is not completely dependent on donations from Europe and the U.S., as is currently the case, is highly unlikely with Israel controlling its borders and its access to fresh water. It is also highly unlikely that Israel would consent to the 1967 borders, which essentially leaves a lot of desert and very little fertile land. And even if Israel did agree to the 1967 borders, there is a large and growing Palestinian population living within Israel proper, a population that will eventually be larger than the Jewish population at current birth rates.
Nevertheless, 70% of Jewish Israelis and well over 80% of Palestinians support a two state solution, while President Obama has taken the ultra-Zionist stance and done everything possible to block it from even being presented to the UN (see Democracy Now, 9/24/11)
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