Abbas, plans to declare Palestinian state
Photo: AP
Unilateralism at its best
Palestinian statements threaten Israel’s monopoly on unilateralism
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas’ intention to unilaterally declare the establishment of a Palestinian state was received in Israel with hostility and anger.
The Palestinian declarations as well as the infuriated Israeli reaction reminded us yet again that both sides prefer to focus on statements rather than on the essence. After all, this entire ridiculous festival was taking place in relation to an early declaration in respect to a future option of declaring a virtual state.
Yet the show was stolen by the Israeli claims regarding the unilateralism of the Palestinian plan; these claims were reminiscent of an owner of a polluting refinery raising a hue and cry over air pollution.
What comes to mind here is not only our unilateral withdrawal from Lebanon and the unilateral disengagement from the Gaza Strip. Beyond that, Israel’s conduct in the past decade, and this includes the current government as well, has been screaming unilateralism, while making it clear that we are only willing to engage in dialogue with ourselves.
Palestinian chutzpah
Indeed, we have decided to do without the grim presence of all sort of “other sides,” while presenting a model of unilateral existence.The Palestinian chutzpah inherent in the attempt to invade our unilateral territory has been received with a proper and one-sided Zionist response: A threat to unilaterally declare the annexation of territory to Israel.
This was indeed a nice response, but we must not make do with it and instead exploit the unilateral momentum for additional; unilateral projects: A unilateral declaration regarding the resolution of our disagreements with the United States, for example.
We can also unilaterally declare that Israel’s national soccer team is advancing to the World Cup after all. While we are at it, we can also unilaterally declare – without first coordinating it with the Sea of Galilee – that we resolved the drought problem.
