Become a Member
The Jewish Chronicle

Analysis: PA will not declare independence alone

November 19, 2009 14:55
A Palestinian child peers out between posters of Mahmoud Abbas

ByAnshel Pfeffer, Anshel Pfeffer

2 min read

Israeli politicians were up in arms this week over the stated intention of the Palestinian Authority unilaterally to declare an independent state in the near future.

Unilateral steps on the Palestinian side will be met by similar moves from Israel, they ominously warned, hinting at possible annexations of parts of the West Bank, as they did in east Jerusalem after the Six-Day War in 1967. Such a declaration, they promised, would mean an end to any diplomatic process with the Palestinians.

The exchange of threats is yet another sign of total breakdown in negotiations between the two sides over the last year, but there is little chance that the Palestinians will actually carry out their threat. For a start, such a declaration of independence necessitates a degree of unity within the Palestinian people that is currently unimaginable, due to the ongoing bloody Hamas-Fatah feud.

In addition, if past experience is anything to go by, the timid Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, will hesitate and hesitate some more, until other events overtake him and everyone forgets about going it alone. Besides, the Palestinians have used similar threats in the past. Twenty-one years ago in Algiers they even went ahead and declared independence, changing nothing.