A Quick Update on the Potential for an Israeli/Palestinian U.N. Clash this September

One of the items I identified at the end of May as something important to watch this summer is the potential for the Palestinians to force the U.N. to decide on whether to recognize a Palestinian state.

• At the time I highlighted this potential event the Palestinians had not officially decided to push for U.N. recognition, but were leaning in favor of it. In addition, European and American officials were attempting to restart peace talks between the Palestinians and the Israelis in hopes of avoiding a situation where they must address the issue at the U.N. this fall.

One month later, the diplomatic efforts to dissuade the Palestinians from pursuing a U.N. vote appear to have been ineffective.

• A few days ago the official Palestinian news agency reported that leaders from the Palestinian Liberation Organization decided after a meeting to officially push the U.N. to vote on the issue of Palestinian statehood based on the pre-1967 borders this September.
• In addition, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas reiterated yesterday that the Palestinians intend to take the matter to the U.N. this September.

In response, the U.S. and others are now working on a last minute effort to dissuade the Palestinians from pursuing the U.N. route.

• There is reportedly going to be a summit in Washington D.C. on July 11 where officials representing the U.S., the European Union, the United Nations, and Russia will attempt to devise an “international peace plan” in hopes it will be enough to dissuade the Palestinians from pursuing a U.N. vote in September.

We should have a very good idea of what the Palestinians truly intend to do with regards to the U.N. by July 15. July 15 is the deadline for the Palestinians to petition the U.N. for a September vote and the deadline to apply for full U.N. membership.

This is going to be an important thing to monitor in the coming days and weeks because we could see a very news-filled September if the Palestinians pursue the U.N option and we could see a lot of Middle East related-events take place afterwards depending how a potential vote turns out…