CMEP Bulletin: Talks of Statehood at UN as PA’s Future is Questioned
Weekly update from CMEP
Examining the PA’s Past, Present and Future
After last year’s failed attempt at becoming a full member of the UN by going through the Security Council, Abbas announced he would submit an application for non-member state observer status to the General Assembly. This requires a simple majority of the 193 UN General Assembly members and is a near certainty since the PLO counts 130 nations that already recognize Palestine as a state. This could be a small victory for Abbas as the economic crisis facing the Palestinian Authority is causing more cracks to appear in the façade of its already limited self-governance that began in 1994 after the Oslo Accords.
Amidst a wave of optimism, Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin signed the Oslo Accords in the White House Rose Garden in September 1993. In the agreement, Israel committed itself to withdrawing from portions of the West Bank and Gaza and allowing a Palestinian government in its place. The arrangement was intended to be temporary while the parties negotiated a permanent settlement. Israel first gave the newly formed Palestinian Authority control of Jericho and the Gaza Strip (excluding Israeli settlements) in May 1994 and by January 1997 all major Palestinian cities were in PA control. Today, the PA only fully functions in parts of the West Bank and it governs 55 percent of the Palestinians in the West Bank but only 18 percent of the land. Israel is in complete control of 60 percent.
Click here to read this full CMEP Bulletin, including the following items:
- UN General Assembly Speech Recap
- Further reading