The delegates of the opening UN General Assembly session expect a speech of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas with an appeal to recognize his country’s independence. This issue has raised a political and diplomatic storm.

The issue of creating an independent Palestine is over 60 years old. At the very beginning of its existence, in 1947, the UN adopted Resolution 181 stipulating the establishment of two states, an Arab and Israeli one, on the territory of former Palestine. Israel was declared an independent state in 1948. Arab countries, such as Egypt, Syria, and Jordan, considered that the UN decision infringed upon their rights. Anti-Israeli moods were very strong in those countries then, which resulted in several wars in 1947-1949, 1967 and 1973. The events of 1967 were most tragic because the Arab world lost a considerable part of its territories. In particular, Israel occupied the territory where it was planned to establish the Arab state of Palestine. That territory had belonged to Egypt and Jordan for 19 years but they had not provided Palestinians with an independent state. Now Israel often uses this argument saying that Palestinians are incapable of establishing an independent state. However, the world community condemned the occupation of the Arab territories and repeatedly confirmed Palestinians’ right to their land.

After the Camp David agreement in the late 1980s Israel settled its relations with Egypt and Jordan by recognizing Palestinians’ right to a national administration. The issue of independence was to be discussed at bilateral talks, which was registered in Oslo in 1988. However, Israel and Palestine have not found any points of contact since then. Palestinians’ demands of Israel’s recognizing the pre-1967 borders do not find understanding in Israel which has been actively carrying out housing construction on the occupied territories.

The international community has established a quartet of intermediaries in the Middle East problem – Russia, the USA, the EU and the UN. However, it is not always easy to come to terms inside the quartet itself, says Georgy Mirsky from the Institute of World Economics and International Relations at the Russian Academy of Sciences.

“The USA shares Israel’s opinion that an independent state can appear only as a result of talks, with Israel’s consent, as it was stipulated by the Oslo agreement and the following agreements. Russia, like most other countries, believes that talks should result in the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.”

In this situation Palestinians decided to make a strong move and appeal to the UN for recognizing them as a full-fledged member-state which entails the recognition of their independence. Russia intends to support Palestinians. Already in 1988, after the Oslo agreement was signed, Moscow recognized Palestine as an independent state. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov declared that by their appeal to the UN Palestinians emphasize the need for a speedy settlement of their problem on the basis of international law. On the other hand, the appeal to the UN is not an alternative to talks. Sergey Lavrov discussed this with the head of the Palestinian autonomy Mahmoud Abbas today during the UN General Assembly session.

While Russia sees no problem in the forthcoming voting in the UN, the USA is doing its best to block it. If this issue is considered by the Security Council, the USA will veto it. However, there is a 1-year alternative. On condition that talks are restarted and the date of Palestinian independence is fixed, this issue will be put on the agenda but postponed. This will be to Palestinians’ benefit as well because Mahmoud Abbas will have more space for manoeuvre.

Paradoxically, the USA and Israel gained an ally where least expected. Radical Islamists from Hamas who control the Gaza Strip refused to support Abbas’ initiative. One of the Hamas leaders said in his interview for The Voice of Russia that the appeal made in New York was to recognize a non-existing state. What’s the use of another recognition of Palestine’s independence when this state does not exist, the Hamas leader asks.

No one expects miracles from the voting in the UN. Problems will remain, Israel will not withdraw from its settlements on the occupied Palestinian territories and a return to the pre-1967 borders is unlikely, as Israeli authorities declared more than once. However, the only way out of this difficult situation in the Middle East is talks and willingness to understand each other. Tweet