Palestinians Lobby For Convincing Win In U.N. Vote

[Purveyor]

By Noah Browning and Ali Sawafta

RAMALLAH, West Bank | Tue Oct 30, 2012 10:15am EDT

(Reuters) - Palestinians have launched a diplomatic blitz aimed at garnering a strong majority for a vote granting the non-member statehood at the United Nations slated for next month, officials said on Tuesday.

Despite heading for a sure victory in the U.N General Assembly, mostly consisting of post-colonial states historically sympathetic to the Palestinians, West Bank diplomats are courting European countries to further burnish their campaign.

"From the E.U. we will have a minimum of 12 votes and maybe up to 15, as some are not yet decided," Wasel Abu Yousef, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization, told Reuters. There are 27 nations within the European Union.

Palestinian officials say that they can count on around 115 'yes' votes, mostly from Arab, African, Latin American, and Asian states, and expect around 22 no-votes, led by the United States, and 56 abstentions in the 193-member organization.

MORE...

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/30/us-palestinians-un-statehood-idUSBRE89T11H20121030

[Scootaloo]

1. The US' "no" rally is a fucking embarassment.

"We support a Palestinian state, oh wait."

[azurnoir]

3. we support negotiations almost 2 decades of them

a completely different animal as has become all too obvious

[azurnoir]

2. There is a sh*tstorm coming over this

as a 1994 US law requites we cut funding to the UN if the UNGA votes in favor of this and IMO they will

[ProgressiveProfessor]

6. They will accomplish what the right wing has always wanted

the US will be forced by law to cut all UN payments.

While I tend to denigrate the UN bureaucracies, this is not the right way to reform them

[azurnoir]

7. how do you feel about the fact that the US may well condemn women and children around the globe

to death from disease and starvation to apparently protect Israeli interests? The law was passed in 1994 around the time of the Oslo accords while we had a Republican controlled House in an election year

[ProgressiveProfessor]

9. Are you talking about the future or present (UNESCO)

[azurnoir]

13. Future of course

but then again the vote won't be till the middle to end of November

[Scootaloo]

10. The wacky thing is, it's not even in Israel's best interest

But then, since when have American Israel Supporters™ ever really given a damn, I guess. It's about hating Arabs, after all, not helping Israel.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

16. The problem will be that the President will be unable to change the law unless we win both houses.

I have not been tracking that so if anyone wants to chime in with that, please do.

The UNGA knows well what the US government will have to do. The president has been unable to reverse the UNESCO funding cuts, and the director-general of UNESCO was in the media again complaining about it again just recently.

To assert that "US may well condemn women and children around the globe to death from disease and starvation to apparently protect Israeli interests?" is pure hyperbole.

[shaayecanaan]

12. I guess the IAEA won't have the money to carry out any more inspections

of Iranian nuclear facilities.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

15. All the poison pills in the world will not matter

US law is clear and the president will not be able to get it changed unless his party controls both houses. Even then, he may not get it.

[shaayecanaan]

17. US law is not particularly clear at all...

I'm surprised that a DOD/CIA/FBI expert professor with your own stash of Soviet man-portable missiles such as yourself wasn't aware of the constitutional concerns that the Department of Justice has in relation to the relevant law:-

http://www.justice.gov/ola/views-letters/112/102111-ltr-re-hr-2829-UN-transparency-accountability-reform-act-2011.pdf

The DOJ's position is that the law, including the relevant Section 402, is potentially unconstitutional, in that it seeks to bind the hand of the President with respect to foreign policy in a way that is ultra vires the Congress.

[azurnoir]

18. hush now

don't want to give any ideas now, the vote won't be happening for at least 2 weeks

[ProgressiveProfessor]

19. The Executive Branch may say what it wants on a website, but it has chosen not to go to court

and SecState has not even taken a seriously contrary position.

[oberliner]

4. The Palestinian Lobby is very powerful

You don't want to mess with them.

[shaayecanaan]

5. Indeed, many US senators are terrified of the Palestinian lobby

in fact, a lot of them complain that they can't express any opinion other than what the Palestinian lobby advocates for them.

[oberliner]

8. 115 "yes" votes in the UNGA

That's pretty damn good.

We are talking about power on an international scale here, not just within one country.

[shaayecanaan]

11. Tuvalu tried to hold out but they just couldn't take it anymore...

they folded in the face of the Palestinian diplomatic onslaught. I myself spent the week hiding under my desk, and I'm not even a diplomat.

[oberliner]

14. But on a serious note

I expect the Palestinian lobby's efforts will bear fruit in the end with respect to a forthcoming UN resolution in the GA and possibly beyond.