In early September, the request from the Palestinian Authority for a vote on a Palestinian state in the United Nations was the prime issue on the minds of the pro-Israel community.
But Carl Schrag, former editor of the Jerusalem Post, came to Milwaukee on Sept. 7 and cautioned the some 100 listeners that whatever the U.N. did after P.A. President Mahmoud Abbas makes the request, its action was not going to change anything significantly on the ground.
Why? Because “the United Nations is not in the business of creating states,” Schrag said. Neither is it in the business of “recognizing states,” because “only states can [diplomatically] recognize other states.”
In fact, in the background report that he offered at the Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center, Schrag pointed out that there is no real parallel between what the P.A. was seeking and the events surrounding Israel’s creation in 1947-48.
In 1947, he explained, Great Britain had a mandate from the League of Nations to rule the territory known as Palestine. After British leaders decided that they no longer wanted to do that, they brought the issue to the U.N. asking for a recommended solution.
The U.N. partition plan of 1947 did not create Israel. Rather, the General Assembly voted to recommend this plan. The Yishuv that formed the governing body of the Jewish community in Palestine accepted the plan and declared Israel’s independence; the Arabs rejected it and tried to destroy the Jews of Palestine.
But the recognizing of Israel as a legitimate nation-state began when other countries did that, beginning with the Truman Administration of the United States.
“If nobody had recognized Israel” after Yishuv leader David Ben-Gurion declared Israel’s independence, “there probably would not have been a state,” Schrag said.
But the Palestinian Arabs have proclaimed independence even before this. Yassir Arafat, chair of the Palestine Liberation Organization, declared Palestine’s independence from Tunisia in 1988, Schrag said.
But while some dozens of countries have recognized this “state,” it remains “a fictitious entity,” said Schrag. In fact, while “Palestine” has observer status at the U.N., its leaders have never applied for U.N. membership, said Schrag.
To obtain U.N. membership, countries have to go through a two-step process. First, they have to get a recommendation from the U.N. Security Council. Second, the General Assembly has to vote to accept the recommendation.
The Security Council has 15 members. Five of them are permanent — the United States, Britain, France, China, and Russia. Any one of these members has a veto power over anything the Security Council does.
For a country to obtain recommendation for membership, it has to have a two-thirds vote of the council with no vetoes from any permanent member. Schrag said that the Obama administration has stated it will veto any such request from the P.A.
However, if that happens, P.A. leaders said they would go directly to the General Assembly. But by U.N. rules, all the G.A. can do is to pass a symbolic sentiment-of-this-house resolution that has “no legal significance,” said Schrag.
However, that does not mean the “symbolic vote” would have no potentially harmful effects. Schrag said such a vote might:
• “Kind of embarrass the United States and supporters of Israel” by demonstrating that “the whole world is against them.”
• Arouse high expectations in the “Palestinian street” that are bound to be frustrated, which could lead to violence not only against Israel, but also against the P.A. leaders.
• Damage Israel in public opinion in the U.S. and elsewhere. Schrag said that even if people don’t read the newspaper articles about such a vote, the headlines may implant associations — “Israel, apartheid, racist, inhumane.”
Schrag, 49, grew up in southern California. He moved to Israel in 1986 and lived there until 2000. He now lives and works in Chicago as a journalist, teacher, and Middle East analyst, and is an associate of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.
He was brought to Milwaukee by the Israel Task Force of the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation, in partnership with the MJF’s Young Leadership Division and Israel Center, and with the JCC.
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