Sep 3, 2017

US envoys Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt left an encouraged Jerusalem and a resigned Ramallah after Aug. 24’s shuttle diplomacy. There was a clear gap between the United States’ rhetoric about President Donald Trump’s desire to launch peace negotiations and the passivity of the administration on the practical level. It seemed as if the Trump administration did little planning ahead of what should have been a complicated regional gathering.

A senior Palestinian minister who participates in the internal deliberations on the US peace efforts told Al-Monitor that it took Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas some time to detect this gap. Abbas had come to realize that the US policy is one of words to pacify US-Arab allies in the fight against radical Islam and Iran, but no more. For the Palestinians, Trump has become Middle Eastern; he has no foreign policy, only a domestic policy. In six months, he has not uttered what every leader in the world knows will be the outcome of negotiations: a two-state solution. According to the Palestinian minister, Trump’s policy is a photo opportunity policy that serves only the interests of the Israeli occupation.

It seems that Ramallah has given up on Trump’s efforts. They realize that Trump has marginalized the European Union and that the Arab countries have no one engaging them on a diplomatic path. Given this situation, the Palestinian leadership has decided to take a different tack regarding Palestinian statehood — “unilateral statehood.”

According to the Palestinian minister, Ramallah will develop in the coming weeks a plan designed to change the international definition of “Palestinian territories under occupation” into “a Palestinian state under occupation.” For that purpose, senior policy planners have been asked to prepare for a final outline the measures the Palestinian Authority will take to announce Palestinian statehood. These measures will include a declaration of independence, including borders and East Jerusalem as the capital; a constitution establishing Palestinian democracy and rights; a Palestinian currency; and the establishment of additional Palestinian embassies.

These measures will be formulated as a resolution proposal and brought up by the end of the year at a special session of the United Nations General Assembly. The proposed resolution would recognize that Palestine is a state under occupation. Palestinians will then approach the UN International Court of Justice in The Hague to take measures against an Israeli occupation of another state.