Kinsman: Is a UN resolution on Palestinian statehood a step forward or backward for the Israel-Palestine conflict?

By:

, /

18 September, 2011

By: Jeremy Kinsman

CIC Distinguished Fellow

Philip Stephens writes in the Financial Times that Palestinian statehood “should be the pro-Israel position” because real peace in this 63-year-old conflict demands a Palestinian state. The international community’s promise of a two-state solution is stymied by the Netanyahu-Lieberman coalition’s refusal of sincere negotiations with the Palestinians and aggressive expansion of illegal settlements in what would be the Palestinian state. Tzipi Livni, opposition leader, rightly blames Netanyahu himself for the UN vote. Though just a political stunt with little practical consequence, it gets magnified by media into a narrative of political winners and losers.

Regrettably, a perceived loser is Obama, obliged by US Congress politics to veto full statehood, undoing efforts by the US to connect to young Arabs. But Israel loses more, government intransigence having deepened the country’s isolation. One hopes Israeli voters, already vexed by the country’s economics, will soon throw this unpleasant coalition government out and give Israelis and Palestinians the chance at real peace they have so long deserved.

Before you click away, we’d like to ask you for a favour …

Journalism in Canada has suffered a devastating decline over the last two decades. Dozens of newspapers and outlets have shuttered. Remaining newsrooms are smaller. Nowhere is this erosion more acute than in the coverage of foreign policy and international news. It’s expensive, and Canadians, oceans away from most international upheavals, pay the outside world comparatively little attention.

At Open Canada, we believe this must change. If anything, the pandemic has taught us we can’t afford to ignore the changing world. What’s more, we believe, most Canadians don’t want to. Many of us, after all, come from somewhere else and have connections that reach around the world.

Our mission is to build a conversation that involves everyone — not just politicians, academics and policy makers. We need your help to do so. Your support helps us find stories and pay writers to tell them. It helps us grow that conversation. It helps us encourage more Canadians to play an active role in shaping our country’s place in the world.

Become a Supporter