Gershon Baskin, Co-CEO of the Israel-Palestine Centre For Research and Information [IPCRI]said that that he was the one who “put forth” the idea to European Union Foreign Policy chief Javier Solana of having the United Nations Security Council recognize a Palestinian state, even if an agreement is not reached between Israel and the Palestinians.

Baskin told an IPCRI conference entitled “Education for Peace” on August 8 in Beit Jalla, at Talitha Kumi near Bethlehem that “He [Solana] heard it first from me, but it’s fine, let Solana get the credit.”

Baskin said under the proposed plan the United States would not use its veto power to prevent the U.N. Security Council from recognizing the existence of the State of Palestine within provisional borders.

Baskin told the conference that about two weeks ago he met for “secret talks in the U.S.” with five Palestinians, five Americans and five Israelis.

“[PA President] can submit a request [to the U.N. Security Council]that the State of Palestine become a member state of the U.N., and if the U.S. does not veto this, all of the Security Council members will vote in favour,” said Baskin, noting that currently the Palestinians only have observer status at the U.N.

After passing the Security Council, the State of Palestine would be recognized by the U.N. general Assembly and “from that moment, the State of Israel is now occupying the entire member state of Palestine,” he said. He added that once that happened the U.N. could create a mechanism to send in international forces to implement the two state solution, with Jerusalem as a capital for both states.

In addition to putting forth this idea to Solana, Baskin told the conference that he has presented his plan to the Americans. When asked specifically to whom this was sent, Baskin replied that his plan was presented to two Deputy Secretaries of State to Hillary Clinton, and was also sent to the office of Special Envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell.

Baskin also said that last week he met Rafik Husseini and presented the plan to him in preparation for it to be presented to PA President Mahmoud Abbas, noting that when the Fatah convention in Bethlehem was over, he expected the plan to be presented to Abbas.

On June 13, Ha’aretz reported that Soalana said in London that “After a fixed deadline, a U.N. Security Council resolution should proclaim the adoption of the two state solution.”’

It further reported that Solana said “It [the U.N.] would accept the Palestinian state as a full member of the U.N. and set a calendar fro implementation.”

Baskin told the conference that Solana’s comments on this plan were to have been co-ordinated first with Mitchell, but that Solana made his comments without first notifying Mitchell. Baskin suggested that Solana’s comments were intended as “a trial balloon.”

Baskin’s plan was presented at the conference through the use of a power point presentation which can be viewed at: http://www.ipcri.org/files/ending.pdf

In an abstract of his talk, Baskin noted that in his view “there will not be any successful bilateral Israeli-Palestinian negotiations at any time in the near future.”

In his view, the only possible plan is one whereby the international community imposes a Palestinian state on Israel.

Baskin also said that he spoke in Brussels [in the Parliament-I think but am not certain] and proposed that both Palestine and Israel ought to be granted EU status, which would give both sides a large incentive to approve of the two state solution ‘It wouldn’t be a big deal if a Palestinian worked in Tel-Aviv, when he could also work in Vienna.” But Baskin added that the Europeans he’d spoken with weren’t interested “ in having either of us join.”

Baskin noted that once the U.S. and U.N. take steps to recognize a Palestinian state, the peace camp in Israel will be able to rally around it and be revived.

He also proposed that once this happens, the PA ought to declare new elections (after a Palestinian state became a member of the U.N.)

He proposed that a condition for running in these elections would be recognition of the Palestinian state, but by recognizing the Palestinian state, Hamas would be recognizing the state of Israel. Hamas could only run in these elections if it recognized the Palestinian state and therefore the State of Israel.

Baskin also said that in the November 1988 Palestinian Declaration of Independence, declared at the PLO summit in Algiers, a reference was made to the U.N. resolution 242 and that therefore Israel was recognized by the PLO.

[Gordon Barthos, the correspondent for the Toronto Star, who covered that conference in Algiers, reported that there was no such PLO recognition of Israel at the Algiers conference]

The IPCRI session was attended by Israelis and Palestinians.

3 COMMENTS

  1. No way. I can’t believe that the`US`would betray history, logic, what is right and Israel for such a ridiculous plan. Why is it only Jews that come up with plans to weaken and destroy Israel?? There are too many self hating and insecure Jews out there. A pox on them.

  2. I listened to your interview on Tovia Singer’s show on Israel National Radio. I was shaking my head in disbelief. Here we are, an Israeli pleading with Americans to save Israel by contacting Congressmen, while Israelis appear helpless and stunned at the weakness and major concessions granted by their own PM.

    In a sane world, there would be no need to appeal to Americans to save Israel because all Israeli Jews would be so passionate about their land that any concession would be unthinkable. And the most you’d be asking would be for your compatriots to fight back harder against foreign interference. In a sane world your PM would be defending loud and clear the country’s rights to its land and sovereignty.

    But it’s not a sane world, and it’s not a sane Israel either.

    The most vocal Israelis like columnist Gershon Baskin are advocating the partition of the country, and enterprising American Jews are joining J-Street to support such partition and worse.

    I’d like to commend you, Mr. Bedein, for posting this column about the real intentions of the enemies of Israel, and I’d like to ask you to push relentlessly to awaken Israelis to this threat.

    Your enemies are putting on a magician show. While keeping you distracted with the settlements and such, they are manipulating to impose the creation of the state of Palestine whether Israelis want it or not. This is a major issue and needs to be brought to the attention of every Jew, whether Israeli or not.

    My suggestion is to call for a conference in Jerusalem to discuss legal issues exclusively. Gather your best legal experts and produce a report that this government and the defenders of the land can use. Something so powerful that Obama and friends will be left spinning in confusion.

    The study and report should cover the Balfour Declaration, the San Remo Resolution, the League of Nations Mandate, which is still valid, the UN commitment to League of Nations Agreements (now forgotten), and all the way through the many violations of UN resolutions by Israel’s enemies, which go unpunished.

    Focus on the ILEGALITY of the UN and US approach, because it’s through the UN that they are trying to defeat you.

    (BTW, it’s very strange how the legal rights of Israel to its land, and even the land now occupied by Jordan, are being deliberately ignored by each successive Israeli government, and by the most active right wing leaders. The UK makes repeated demands from Israel, but to my knowledge, the UK representatives have never had to answer why they violated the Mandate and used Jewish land for the creation of Jordan, and why they have the gall to demand another partition. One is left wondering why this silence about the UK’s past and present behavior.)

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