Abbas determined to push for state membership, come what may

NEW YORK – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has decided to go all the way!

His mind is set on seeking full membership for the state of Palestine at the U.N. Security Council on Friday.
His discussions with leaders and officials in New York are now focused on the day after the request submission. 
Abbas has told delegates visiting him in New York that following the submission of the state membership request on Friday, he will fly back to Ramallah in the West Bank and discuss options with the Palestinian leadership.
An official close to Abbas said: 
"President Abbas has told all his visitors the Palestinian leadership will discuss three options after the U.N.: Either go to the General Assembly and seek an upgrade in status to non-member state,or return to negotiations without pre-conditions, and the third option is to hand over the keys of the Palestinian Territories to Israel and say now you pay the cost of occupation,which really means a one-state solution."

It is clear the issue of Palestinian statehood has taken centre-stage at the UN this year. Abbas has been holding back-to-back meetings with different Arab and Western leaders and officials,  some supporting his U.N. bid, while many others trying to talk him off the idea of going to the Security Council to avert an imminent U.S. veto.

The U.S. has been consistent in its opposition to the Palestinian decision to approach the Security Council or the General Assembly for full membership and an upgrade of status.

“The Americans are telling us no Security Council, no General Assembly, direct negotiations with Israel only.  We have negotiated for 20 years, we have done what the Americans wanted us to do, and we have knocked on every door to achieve results through negotiations alone. What did we get? Nothing,” a senior Abbas aide said.

The Europeans are divided and so are the Arabs.

Abbas has been cajoled, threatened, pressured, and warned, but nothing has worked with him.

As European pressure failed to deter Abbas, the Arabs began leaning on him.

Abbas, the refugee from Safad, who remembers the pain and agony of displacement as a child in 1948, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were forced to flee their homes and villages that later became part of the state of Israel.

That refugee boy, now 76-year-old President of the Palestine Liberation Organization, and President of the Palestinian Authority, is telling the world that Palestinian statehood is long overdue.

Unlike his predecessor Yasser Arafat, Abbas is not a military man and shuns violence as a means to achieve his goals. He believes he has heeded U.S. advice even when this has damaged his standing among his own people (such as the delay of discussion at the UN over the Goldstone Report).

“He has reached the point where he has no faith in the role of the American Administration as a neutral mediator. Where would he turn to for justice other than the United Nations? So he decided to internationalize the Palestinian conflict  and place the United States and others in the international community before their responsibilities,” another senior aide said.

“He will go to the Security Council on Friday and for him, it’s a win-win situation,” he added.

In New York, U.S. President Barack Obama was busy with the issue of Libya. Both US Republican presidential front-runners Rick Perry  and Mitt Romney were also in New York campaigning. They slammed Obama’s Middle East policy and insufficient support for Israel.

As he meets more delegates at his headquarters at the Millennium U.N. Plaza Hotel in New York, Abbas turns more confident that he would not drop his U.N. bid and would press ahead for full membership. He is listening as world leaders make maximalist and minimalist offers to keep the Palestinians away from the Security Council. 

The Palestinians are also split over the U.N.bid. Some say it is a symbolic move that will cost the Palestinians a lot such as deteriorated relations with Washington, the suspension of much-needed aid, and probably isolation. Others counter it is time words are translated into deed, and those who seek a two-state solution, would have a chance to prove it through a vote.

“Abbas drew attention back to the Palestinian cause as delegates frantically try to come up with offers and new ideas before Friday. He is watching and listening, but his mind is so far made up,” one aide said.