Middle East Monitor 2 Jan by Ben White -- Speaking to the Security Council on Tuesday shortly after voting against the doomed Palestinian-drafted resolution on statehood, U.S. Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power referred three times to an "unsustainable status quo" between Israel and the Palestinians. It is of course Washington itself that bears most responsibility for this status quo, through its diplomatic, military, and economic support for the occupier, and leadership of a decades-long 'peace process' that has given Israel the cover to de facto annex its way to a permanent occupation. There is another 'status quo', however, that is already shifting: U.S. public opinion. In a poll conducted last November for the Brookings Institution, when asked about their preferred solution to the conflict, 34% of Americans said their government should push for one state with equal citizenship. That was up from 24% a year previously, a significant difference. Among those who support two states, 66% of them said they would support one state if two states were not possible. In addition: "If a two-state solution is not possible, 71% of Americans (84% of Democrats, 60% of Republicans) favour a single democratic state with Arabs and Jews as equal over a one in which Israel's Jewish majority is sustained and Palestinians will not have equal citizenship." Interestingly, given diplomatic events of the last week, only 27% of Americans polled by Brookings said that the U.S. should oppose a Palestinian request for UN endorsement of statehood, while 25% said the U.S. should vote in favour. Reflecting on the poll's findings, Brooking's Shibley Telhami noted a "pervasive public discomfort with an Israel that favours its Jewishness over democracy, and a creeping openness to a one-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, regardless of how practical or possible that might be."https://www.middleeastmonitor.
Tuesday, January 6, 2015
Business as usual at the UN but US public opinion on Israel is shifting
Business as usual at the UN but US public opinion on Israel is shifting
Middle East Monitor 2 Jan by Ben White -- Speaking to the Security Council on Tuesday shortly after voting against the doomed Palestinian-drafted resolution on statehood, U.S. Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power referred three times to an "unsustainable status quo" between Israel and the Palestinians. It is of course Washington itself that bears most responsibility for this status quo, through its diplomatic, military, and economic support for the occupier, and leadership of a decades-long 'peace process' that has given Israel the cover to de facto annex its way to a permanent occupation. There is another 'status quo', however, that is already shifting: U.S. public opinion. In a poll conducted last November for the Brookings Institution, when asked about their preferred solution to the conflict, 34% of Americans said their government should push for one state with equal citizenship. That was up from 24% a year previously, a significant difference. Among those who support two states, 66% of them said they would support one state if two states were not possible. In addition: "If a two-state solution is not possible, 71% of Americans (84% of Democrats, 60% of Republicans) favour a single democratic state with Arabs and Jews as equal over a one in which Israel's Jewish majority is sustained and Palestinians will not have equal citizenship." Interestingly, given diplomatic events of the last week, only 27% of Americans polled by Brookings said that the U.S. should oppose a Palestinian request for UN endorsement of statehood, while 25% said the U.S. should vote in favour. Reflecting on the poll's findings, Brooking's Shibley Telhami noted a "pervasive public discomfort with an Israel that favours its Jewishness over democracy, and a creeping openness to a one-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, regardless of how practical or possible that might be."https://www.middleeastmonitor.
Middle East Monitor 2 Jan by Ben White -- Speaking to the Security Council on Tuesday shortly after voting against the doomed Palestinian-drafted resolution on statehood, U.S. Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power referred three times to an "unsustainable status quo" between Israel and the Palestinians. It is of course Washington itself that bears most responsibility for this status quo, through its diplomatic, military, and economic support for the occupier, and leadership of a decades-long 'peace process' that has given Israel the cover to de facto annex its way to a permanent occupation. There is another 'status quo', however, that is already shifting: U.S. public opinion. In a poll conducted last November for the Brookings Institution, when asked about their preferred solution to the conflict, 34% of Americans said their government should push for one state with equal citizenship. That was up from 24% a year previously, a significant difference. Among those who support two states, 66% of them said they would support one state if two states were not possible. In addition: "If a two-state solution is not possible, 71% of Americans (84% of Democrats, 60% of Republicans) favour a single democratic state with Arabs and Jews as equal over a one in which Israel's Jewish majority is sustained and Palestinians will not have equal citizenship." Interestingly, given diplomatic events of the last week, only 27% of Americans polled by Brookings said that the U.S. should oppose a Palestinian request for UN endorsement of statehood, while 25% said the U.S. should vote in favour. Reflecting on the poll's findings, Brooking's Shibley Telhami noted a "pervasive public discomfort with an Israel that favours its Jewishness over democracy, and a creeping openness to a one-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, regardless of how practical or possible that might be."https://www.middleeastmonitor.
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