pa2395c.jpg Paul Lachine

A European “Maybe” for Palestine

Tonight, the UN General Assembly will vote on the Palestinian Authority's bid to upgrade Palestine’s status to non-member observer state. Palestine will win, but the European Union, as divided as always on the Israel-Palestine conflict, will lose.

MADRID – On Monday night, the Palestinian Authority submitted a draft resolution to the United Nations General Assembly that, if approved, will upgrade Palestine’s status from “observer entity” to “non-member observer state.” A positive vote could change the outlook for bilateral talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

The vote comes after recent violence in Gaza has ostensibly delivered the coup de grâce to any realistic chance for meaningful negotiations to resolve a conflict that remains key to the wider region’s future. In this context, many factors will influence the General Assembly’s decision, one of the most significant of which will be the European Union’s position.

While EU countries have failed to reach a consensus, the European vote most likely will not hinder the resolution’s adoption, which would make Palestine the second state to gain non-member observer-state status, after the Holy See.

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