UN Representative Prosor: Israel Has No Chance of Stopping Recognition of Palestinian State

By Barak Ravid – “Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Ron Prosor, sent a classified cable to the Foreign Ministry last week, stating that Israel stands no chance of rallying a substantial number of states to oppose a resolution at the UN General Assembly recognizing a Palestinian state in September.

Sources in the Prime Minister’s Office, meanwhile, said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is considering not participating in this year’s General Assembly. Instead President Shimon Peres is likely to represent Israel.

Under the headline ‘Report from the frontline at the UN,’ Prosor – considered one of the most experienced and senior Israeli diplomats – offered a very pessimistic estimate as to Israel’s ability to significantly affect the results of the vote. Even though he did not state so explicitly, Prosor implies that Israel will sustain a diplomatic defeat.

‘The maximum that we can hope to gain [at the UN vote] is for a group of states who will abstain or be absent during the vote,’ Prosor wrote, adding that his comments are based on more than 60 meetings he held during the past few weeks with his counterparts at the UN. ‘Only a few countries will vote against the Palestinian initiative,’ he wrote.” Read more.

Who will endorse Palestine? – “On September 20th, the Palestinian Authority will submit its statehood bid at the United Nations General Assembly; the process will culminate with the UN’s 193 member states voting on recognizing a Palestinian state. What can we expect at the vote? Officials in Jerusalem presume that should a vote indeed take place, the Palestinians will win an automatic majority thanks to the guaranteed support of the 116 ‘non aligned states,’ which tend to vote as a bloc and promote joint interests. Hence, Foreign Ministry officials are focusing their efforts at what they refer to as the ‘moral majority,’ that is, large, influential states – this list includes the 27 members of the European Union, global powers, and several other key states.” Read more.

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