Image of the Day

So I no longer have to put ‘Palestine’ in quotation marks? Just
Palestine. Back to the Ottoman fiefdom of Palestine, the British Mandate
Palestine and now the fulfilment – if ever it be so – of the UN’s 1947
divided Palestine exactly 65 years ago to the day, Arab Palestine, which
old King Abdullah – Hussain’s Dad – annexed to Jordan. If, of course,
there’s enough room for Arab Palestine today amid the cobweb of Jewish
colonies and colonial roads already built – and still being built, with total
impunity and against all international law – across the ‘viable’ state of
Palestine which Lord Blair of Kut al-Amara and the rest of our masters
always speak so blithely.
But that’s not the point just now, either for the Palestinians or the
Israelis. What both the Palestinians and the Israeli Left need is a
substantial Western European vote for a Palestine non-member state at the
UN. We already knew that France was on board, along with Luxembourg
and Spain. Francois Hollande had done a wobbly in recent weeks,
creeping back from his pre-election pledge to “support the international
recognition of the Palestinian state”, telling Benjamin Netanyahu a month
ago that he wanted “negotiations without preconditions” between Israelis
and Palestinians rather than a UN vote. But the Quai d’Orsay obviously
thought better.
For the Israeli Left, this was essential. They have been frightened that
if solely the world’s non-democracies and dictatorships vote for Palestine,
Mr Netanyahu would be able to say that since Mahmoud Abbas could only
get his vote with the help of extremists, despots and potentates, then Israel
would be able to claim a moral victory and brush off the whole affair. But
if the real democracies of Europe will have supported Palestine, it will be
a catastrophe for Netanyahu. Of course, until tonight – if this deadline is
met - we don’t know how Germany will vote. And we all know why.
Needless to say, the Palestinians were already celebrating 24 hours
before the scheduled vote. Celebrations are a dodgy business in the Middle
East. Hopes raised are always dashed. But the vote should also be a blow
to the United States, whose president has followed his usual dog-like
obeisance to Mr Netanyahu, pleading vainly to the world that they should
follow the Israeli-American line: direct ‘peace’ negotiations with the