JTA: The Global News Service of the Jewish People

The dangers of recognizing Palestine

By Ron Kampeas · June 14, 2011

There's been a lot of coverage (including mine) about fears of the consequences of U.N. recognition of "Palestine."

Speculation, too: The Obama administration is sure to veto such a bid, but what happens then?

What are the consequences of a veto? In the Washington Post this weekend, Prince Faisal al Turki, the former Saudi intelligence chief predicts "disastrous consequences."

And does a veto end it? Joseph Deiss, the Swiss president of the U.N. General Assembly seems to think so, and so does Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

There are Jewish groups here, however -- among them, groups known for their sympathy to Netanyahu -- who are emphatically fretting that it does not end with a veto, that the General Assembly will pick it up through a "Uniting for Peace" resolution and do real damage.

In a blog post, the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs does not name the "Uniting for Peace" mechanism, but alludes to it as "not legal."

I'm not sure why JINSA is coy about this: Certainly, Resolution 377 (its formal name)  is controversial, and its powers have not been fully tested;  on the other hand, it was created in 1950 to serve U.S. foreign policy, by circumventing Soviet opposition to police action in the Koreas. Maybe JINSA is not eager to get into those weeds?

In any case, aside from that little bit of obfuscation, it's a really smart post, and raises an issue I have not seen examined elsewhere: A lot of countries  might not be so eager to empower the UNGA to recognize national movements as "states":

There are 37 recognized and recognizable secessionist movements in Africa. There are 65 in Asia, including 13 in Burma, five in China (Uighurs, Tibetans and Mongolians among them). Russia straddles continents and faces five secessionist movements in Asian Russia and 13 more in European Russia, including Chechens. The rest of Europe has more than 50, including 18 in Italy and nine in Spain. France has four irredentist movements, four secessionist movements, five autonomist movements and several movements to change the borders of Departments. There is one each in Poland, the Netherlands, Romania and Switzerland. Parties in Greenland want to secede from Denmark and in Puerto Rico they want to secede from the United States - which also has American Indian, Southern and Texan movements to secede, as well as one in Manhattan and one in New York State. The Miskito Indians want to secede from Nicaragua and Chiapas from Mexico. French and British colonies in the Caribbean and Oceana have separatist movements.

I've written previously about how Netanyahu is "sanguine" about the prospects of U.N. recognition of "Palestine." Maybe this is why.