Palestine and the Issue of Statehood

     Since May 14, 1948, "peace" has been a term that could not be used when speaking of the Middle East, that is not without a prolonged and heated argument or a violent clash of perspectives. The ever-expanding borders of Israel have Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian people on their knees begging for this "peace" and an end to occupation, while Benjamin Netanyahu refuses to bow down to what he and thousands of others believe to be a threat. Though the United States has long been a friend of Israel, President Obama is playing the role of interventionist in this decades old issue. Time and time again, the President has made efforts to create peace between the two states, calling on both Abbas and Netanyahu to sit down and come up with a resolution. The ten month settlement freeze did not work, Resolution 242 was a failure, and the Madrid Peace Conference of 1991 saw no improvements in the Arab-Israeli conflict. There are too many major issues between the two sides, including:

• Borders and division of the land;
• Strong emotions relating to the conflict on both sides;
• Palestinian concerns over Israeli settlements in the West Bank;
• Status of Jerusalem;
• Israeli security concerns over terrorism safe borders, incitements, violence;
• Right of return of Palestinian refugees living in the Palestinian diaspora

     On Friday, September 23, 2011, Mahmoud Abbas plans to submit a member application for a state of Palestine to the UN Security Council. Israel and its supporters, including France and the US, are outraged by these so called "unilateral measures." President Obama took a stand on this predicament today, September 21st, 2011 by clearly declaring his opposition to the Palestinian bid for statehood. “Peace will not come through statements and resolutions at the U.N.,” he said in his address at the General Assembly. Netanyahu thanked Obama "for standing with Israel and supporting peace through direct negotiations," and added, "We both agree that Palestinians and Israelis should sit down and negotiate an agreement of mutual recognition and security. I think this is the only way to get to a stable and durable peace."

     My question is, what does Palestinian statehood have to do with peace? Does a seat at the UN and a label "STATE" interfere with peace efforts? NO. In fact, these steps are preferable. The Palestinian people have long been asking to revert back to the 1967 borders. Take a look at the transformation of the borders, seen to the right.

If the people of Palestine get what they have been yearning for, peace will follow, for the cause of violence at the moment is border disputes and occupation. Netanyahu claims these are backwards steps from peace. Examine the big picture closely and you will realize that these are frontward leaps.

What do you think? Should Palestine be granted statehood? Was President Obama plausible on his stand with Israel? Leave your answers, comments, and anything else in the comment box below, or shoot me an email: nzrmhmmd72@gmail.com. Want me to post about a certain topic? I take requests, and you may leave those too in the comments or my inbox.

Thanks for reading!
-Nazar