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2. Middle East Quartet, Statement Urging the Resumption of Israeli-Palestinian Peace Talks, New York, 23 September 2011
- Publication Date:
- 01-2012
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Journal of Palestine Studies
- Institution:
- Institute for Palestine Studies
- Abstract:
- With the approach of the annual UN General Assembly (UNGA) session and the Palestinians not yet completely de- cided on whether to go ahead with a bid for full membership in the world body, the U.S. in late August 2011 stepped up efforts to avert the move. These included pressure on the Palestinians to accept a proposal by the Middle East Quartet (the U.S., EU, Russia, and the UN) to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talk in lieu of their statehood bid. U.S. envoys pre- sented several formulas, but the Pales- tinians found them insufficient and not serious, and said that even if a viable proposal were presented, the statehood bid would proceed (see Quarterly Update in this issue for details). The U.S. urged its Quartet partners to issue a statement on reviving talks nonetheless, believing it would give the U.S. leverage to argue that an alternative to the statehood bid still existed through negotiations, and that until all negotiating prospects were exhausted unilateral Palestinian steps should be opposed.
- Political Geography:
- Russia, United States, Europe, Middle East, Israel, Palestine, and United Nations
3. Richard J. Goldstone, "Israel and the Apartheid Slander," New York Times, 31 October 2011.
- Publication Date:
- 01-2012
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Journal of Palestine Studies
- Institution:
- Institute for Palestine Studies
- Abstract:
- Judge Goldstone, who led the UN - commissioned investigation into allegations of war crimes committed during Israel's winter 2008–9 operation in Gaza (see Special Doc. File in JPS 154) and later, in a much-publicized move, repudiated one of the commission's major findings (see Doc. A1 in JPS 160), elicited further controversy with his op-ed in the New York Times defending Israel against accusations of apartheid. The op-ed was occasioned by the third session of the Russell Tribunal on Pales- tine (an “international people's tribunal” created by activists to promote peace and justice in the Middle East and funded by the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation), scheduled to begin on 4 November in Cape Town, South Africa, which was to focus on the question of whether Israel's practices with regard to the Palestinians constitute apartheid differences (see un- der “Other” in this issue's Quarterly Up- date). See the first item in the “Selections from the Press” in this issue for reactions to the Goldstone op-ed.
- Political Geography:
- New York, Israel, South Africa, and United Nations
4. UN Security Council, Report of the Committee on the Admission of New Members Concerning Palestine's Application for Membership to the UN , New York, 11 November 2011.
- Publication Date:
- 01-2012
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Journal of Palestine Studies
- Institution:
- Institute for Palestine Studies
- Abstract:
- The UN Committee on the Admission of New Members, comprising representatives of the fifteen serving members of the UN Security Council (UNSC), considered the Palestinian application at a number of meetings between 28 September and 8 November, the date it completed its final report. In addition to the five permanent members (the U.S., France, Great Britain, Russia, and China), the rotating members during this period were Bosnia, Brazil, Colombia, Gabon, Germany, India, Lebanon, Nigeria, Portugal, and South Africa. The report was formally accepted by the UNSC on 11 November.
- Political Geography:
- Britain, Africa, China, New York, Bosnia, Middle East, India, France, Brazil, Colombia, Palestine, Germany, United Nations, Nigeria, and Portugal
5. State of Palestine, Application for Admission to Membership in the UN and Accompanying Letters, Ramallah, 23 September 2011
- Publication Date:
- 01-2012
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Journal of Palestine Studies
- Institution:
- Institute for Palestine Studies
- Abstract:
- The Palestinian application for admission to the United Nations, addressed to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, consisted of three elements: a covering letter, the letter of application, and an appended declaration affirming that the State of Palestine accepts the obligations contained in the UN Charter, as required by the rules of procedure for both the Security Council and General Assembly. All three documents were signed by Mahmud Abbas in his dual capacities as president of the State of Palestine and chairman of the PLO Executive Committee, and the text of the latter two documents explicitly identifies the PLO as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. The letter of application further specifies that the application is made “consistent with the rights of the Palestinian refugees.” This reference, and the emphasis on the PLO's status as the Palestinians' sole legitimate representative, were reportedly prompted by concerns that recognition of statehood could affect the rights of diaspora Palestinians and especially the refugees. The three documents submit- ted by the Palestinians were forwarded by the secretary-general with a covering letter to the serving president of the Security Council, Lebanese ambassador to the UN Nawaf Salam, who in turn conveyed all four items to all members of the Security Council as document S/2011/592 dated 23 September 2011. The documents were taken from the website of the Permanent Observer Mission of Palestine to the United Nations at http://www.un.int/wcm/content/site/ palestine.
- Political Geography:
- Palestine and United Nations
6. Palestinian Pres. Mahmud Abbas, Address to the UN General Assembly on the Occasion of Palestine's Application for UN Membership, New York, 23 September 2011 (excerpts)
- Publication Date:
- 01-2012
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Journal of Palestine Studies
- Institution:
- Institute for Palestine Studies
- Abstract:
- President Abbas's speech, which ended with the announcement that an application for membership in the United Nations had just been filed, consisted primarily of a comprehensive overview of the Palestinian position, past efforts, and current situation and included a clear statement of purpose, goals, and conditions for renewed negotiations. Addressing relentless settlement expansion and Israel's refusal to commit to terms of reference as called for by international law and UN resolutions, he stated frankly that it was "no longer possible to redress the issue of blockage of the horizon of the peace talks with the same means . . . that have been repeatedly tried and proven unsuccessful" and declared that negotiations were futile "without clear parameters and in the absence of credibility and a specific timetable," and in the continuing presence of an entrenched occupation that "continues to change the demography of our country in order to . . . alter the borders." Abbas was greeted enthusiastically upon his return home on 25 September by thousands of Palestinians who praised his actions at the UN General Assembly session as an assertion of Palestinian rights and principles, even while being skeptical that they would result in substantive change. The speech, delivered in Arabic, was taken from the PLO's Negotiations Affairs Department.
- Political Geography:
- Palestine and United Nations
7. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, Address to the UN General Assembly on the Occasion of Palestine's Application for UN Membership, New York, 23 September 2011 (excerpts).
- Publication Date:
- 01-2012
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Journal of Palestine Studies
- Institution:
- Institute for Palestine Studies
- Abstract:
- Prime Minister Netanyahu's speech, which followed Palestinian pres. Mahmud Abbas's, was sharply critical of the United Nations, and emphasized Israel's unflagging efforts to reach a just peace in the face of multifold threats, the most recent and gravest being Islamist fanaticism. Though reiterating his often-expressed hope that the Palestinians will become a partner in peace and finally recognize Israel as a Jewish state, the speech was vague on specific reasons (beyond Palestinian intransigence) for the stalled negotiations. When Netanyahu took the podium following a standing ovation for Abbas, a number of delegates left the assembly hall, prompting him to state: "I did not come here to win applause. I came here to speak the truth." The speech was taken from the Israeli Prime Minister's.
- Political Geography:
- New York, Israel, Palestine, and United Nations
8. U.S. Pres. Barack Obama, Address to the UN General Assembly, New York, 21 September 2011 (excerpts).
- Publication Date:
- 01-2012
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Journal of Palestine Studies
- Institution:
- Institute for Palestine Studies
- Abstract:
- Much of President Obama's speech was taken up with surveying the year's progress with regard to ending conflicts and realizing democracy and human rights (e.g., Iraq, Afghanistan, South Sudan, the Arab Spring). His remarks on the Israel-Palestine conflict, reproduced below, were less optimistic, and contrasted with his UN General Assembly address of September 2010, which gave a nod to the Palestinian demand for a settlement moratorium with tentative support. In this year's address, the burden of responsibility seemed to lie squarely with the Palestinians, leading some critics to speak of a "final capitulation to the Israeli position." The text of Obama's speech was distributed by the White House press office.
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan, United States, New York, Israel, Palestine, Arabia, United Nations, and South Sudan
9. State Department, Briefing in the Wake of UNESCO's Approval of Full Palestinian Membership, Washington, 3 November 2011 (excerpts).
- Publication Date:
- 01-2012
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Journal of Palestine Studies
- Institution:
- Institute for Palestine Studies
- Abstract:
- The 31 October vote of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization ( UNESCO) general assembly approving by a wide margin the Palestinian request for full membership in the organization (as opposed to observer status) was the starting point for the Palestine-related segment of the State Department's daily press briefing. Spokesperson Victoria Nuland was hammered on the U.S. defunding of UNESCO and progress on the peace process. The transcript was distributed by the State Department.
- Political Geography:
- United States, Washington, Palestine, and United Nations
10. Western Interests, Israeli Unilateralism, and the Two-State Solution
- Author:
- Neve Gordon and Yinon Cohen
- Publication Date:
- 05-2012
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Journal of Palestine Studies
- Institution:
- Institute for Palestine Studies
- Abstract:
- This essay analyzes the impact of Israeli unilateralism-specifically that of its settlement project-on the two-state solution. After exploring the relationship between unilateralism and power, the authors show, inter alia, that in-migration has accounted for about half the settlement growth since the international embrace of the land-for- peace formula in 1991, that the level of in-migration does not fluctuate according to government composition (right or left), and that Israeli-Palestinian negotiations have spurred rather than inhibited settlement expansion. The essay is framed by a contrast with the Palestinian bid for full UN membership, rejected as unilateralism by the Western powers but in fact aimed at undercutting Israeli unilateralism and creating the conditions for meaningful negotiations.
- Political Geography:
- Israel, Palestine, and United Nations
11. Compounding Vulnerability: Impacts of Climate Change on Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank
- Author:
- Michael Mason, Mark Zeitoun, and Ziad Mimi
- Publication Date:
- 05-2012
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Journal of Palestine Studies
- Institution:
- Institute for Palestine Studies
- Abstract:
- Coping with (and adapting to) climatological hazards is commonly understood in intergovernmental and aid agency for a as a purely technical matter. This article examines the UN Development Programme's stakeholder consultations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in order to challenge the donor-driven technical-managerial framing of Palestinian climate vulnerability by showing how Israeli occupation practices exacerbate environmental stresses. While emphasizing the importance of social, economic, and political contexts in shaping populations' responses to climate change in general, the authors demonstrate the multiple ways in which the occupation specifically compounds hazards reveals it as constitutive of Palestinian climate vulnerability.
- Political Geography:
- Israel and United Nations
12. Photos from the Quarter
- Publication Date:
- 05-2012
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Journal of Palestine Studies
- Institution:
- Institute for Palestine Studies
- Abstract:
- This small sample of photos, selected from hundreds viewed by JPS, aims to convey a sense of the situation on the ground in the occupied territories during the quarter.
- Political Geography:
- United Nations
13. B. B'Tselem , "Three Years since Operation Cast Lead: Israeli Military Utterly Failed to Investigate Itself," Jerusalem, 19 January 2012.
- Publication Date:
- 05-2012
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Journal of Palestine Studies
- Institution:
- Institute for Palestine Studies
- Abstract:
- The document below was published by the Israeli Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, B'Tselem, on 19 January. Though in the wake of Operation Cast Lead the Israel Defense Forces insisted that an independent investigation of its activities was unnecessary, the B'Tselem report details the failure of the Israeli military to investigate either policy choices or the conduct of the forces in the !eld in particular cases three years after the operation. The footnotes have been omitted for space. The document was obtained from http://www.btselem.org/gaza_strip/20120118_3_ years_after_cast_lead.
- Political Geography:
- Israel and United Nations
14. C. Khaled Elgindy, "The Middle East Quartet: A Post-Mortem," Washington, D.C., February 2012 (excerpts)
- Publication Date:
- 05-2012
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Journal of Palestine Studies
- Institution:
- Institute for Palestine Studies
- Abstract:
- It has been ten years since the four most powerful players in the Middle East peace process-the United States, the European Union, Russia, and the United Nations-came together under the diplomatic umbrella known as the Quartet. Formed in response to the outbreak of the second intifada in late 2000 and the collapse of peace negotiations a few months later, the Quartet appeared ideally suited for dealing with the seemingly intractable con!ict between Israelis and Palestinians. Its small but powerful membership allowed it to act swiftly and decisively, while its informal structure gave it the !exibility needed to navigate crises and adapt to changing developments on the ground.
- Topic:
- Security
- Political Geography:
- Russia, United States, Europe, Washington, Middle East, and United Nations
15. Toward a New Palestinian Negotiation Paradigm
- Author:
- Camille Mansour
- Publication Date:
- 05-2011
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Journal of Palestine Studies
- Institution:
- Institute for Palestine Studies
- Abstract:
- Against a background of prolonged stalemate, this essay provides a detailed examination of two decades of Palestinian-Israeli negotiations with a view to identifying deficiencies in the Palestinian negotiating approach and drawing lessons of use to future Palestinian negotiators in the context of power imbalance. After outlining possible conditions for resuming and conducting negotiations (making the decision and timing tactical rather than strategic), the author advocates a shift in the Palestinian negotiating paradigm that considers negotiations as one diplomatic tool among others in the long Palestinian struggle to achieve their national program, and places the negotiations in the context of priorities for the coming period.
- Political Geography:
- Israel, Palestine, Gaza, and United Nations
16. A5. UN Secretary-General, Palestinian Children in Israeli Detention, New York, 6 November 2009 (excerpts)
- Publication Date:
- 12-2010
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Journal of Palestine Studies
- Institution:
- Institute for Palestine Studies
- Abstract:
- The following report, covering the period from September 2008 to August 2009 and submitted to the UN General Assembly, provides an overview of key aspects of the humanitarian and human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territories and Israel, such as the Israeli blockade on Gaza, the firing of rockets against Israeli civilian areas, restrictions on freedom of movement in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and house demolitions and forced displacement in area C and East Jerusalem.
- Topic:
- Human Rights
- Political Geography:
- New York, Israel, Palestine, Gaza, and United Nations
17. C1. PM Benjamin Netanyahu, Speech to the UN General Assembly, New York, 24 September 2009 (excerpts)
- Publication Date:
- 12-2010
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Journal of Palestine Studies
- Institution:
- Institute for Palestine Studies
- Abstract:
- Nearly 62 years ago, the United Nations recognized the right of the Jews, an ancient people 3,500 years old, to a state of their own in their ancestral homeland. I stand here today as the prime minister of Israel, the Jewish state, and I speak to you on behalf of my country and my people.
- Political Geography:
- New York, Israel, and United Nations
18. Kelly: Law, Violence, and Sovereignty among West Bank Palestinians
- Author:
- Samera Esmeir
- Publication Date:
- 07-2009
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Journal of Palestine Studies
- Institution:
- Institute for Palestine Studies
- Abstract:
- Little is written about Palestinian law and society, and Tobias Kelly's Law, Violence and Sovereignty among West Bank Palestinians comes as an ethnographic and theoretical contribution to this small and growing field. Focusing on the everyday application of the law and life of West Bank workers, Kelly, an anthropologist who has conducted long-term fieldwork in the occupied Palestinian territories, exposes the abstract nature of regimes of power. While these regimes are often understood as suspending the law and legitimizing violence, they emerge in Kelly's analysis as having created an intimate relationship between legal orders of rights and violence. The book focuses on legal practice, rather than legal doctrine, and inquires into how law, rights claims, and spaces of jurisdictions are mobilized in the village where Kelly conducted his fieldwork (given the fictional name of Bayt Hajjar). Instead of viewing rights talk as alien and imposed from above and reducing all frameworks of moral and political reference to that of the law, the book reveals the many meanings acquired by the law in its everyday coexistence with other significant relationships: "For the residents of Bayt Hajjar, rights claims do not emerge in an abstract legal universe, but are created in the context of ongoing, morally charged relationships, involving elements of village and national solidarity. The result is a profoundly ambivalent attitude to legal claims".
- Political Geography:
- Palestine, Arabia, United Nations, and Lebanon