Haaretz: Israel Losing Europe's Support
Israeli daily Haaretz said that Tel Aviv officials were shocked and faced a "humiliating defeat" after the UN General Assembly member states, including the European countries, supported Palestine's request for its recognition as an independent state and voted in favor of granting the nonmember observer status to Palestine.
The newspaper in an article wrote that Israel experienced "humiliating defeat" when it found that all of its European sponsors, except the Czech Republic, chose to accept Palestine as a UN observer state and left Israel alone.
The paper said as the hours wore on Thursday, the magnitude of the Israeli defeat in the United Nations General Assembly became continually clearer.
One after another, the Foreign Ministry and Prime Minister's Office received reports from Israeli embassies in Europe that countries were changing their votes at the last minute and leaning toward the Palestinians. A few hours before the vote, Israel understood that it was left without any Western support except for the United States, Canada and the Czech Republic.
"We lost Europe," said a senior Israeli Foreign Ministry official. The erosion of Israeli support and shift to the Palestinians started a few days ago in France. French President Francois Hollande's words at a press conference with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Paris a month ago, in which he expressed doubts about the Palestinian move in the UN, disappeared as if he never spoke them, the report said.
Despite previous declarations, France announced that instead of abstaining, it would vote in favor of recognizing Palestine as a non-member state.
Sixteen members of the European Union have announced their support for the Palestinian move: Spain, Cyprus, Portugal, Luxembourg, Finland, Denmark, Austria, Malta, Ireland, Italy, Slovenia, Belgium, Sweden, Germany and Greece all joined France in the past few days. Norway and Switzerland, which are not members of the European Union, also announced their support for the Palestinian request.
The UN General Assembly resolution recognizes Palestine within the 1967 borders as a non-member observer state. One hundred and thirty eight countries voted in favor of the resolution. Israel suffered a humiliating political defeat and found itself isolated along with the United States and Canada, Haaretz said.
Britain, which only a few days ago led the attempt to pressure Palestinian Authority's President Mahmoud Abbas to withdraw his resolution, also changed its position.
The British promised they would abstain or vote against, but changed their stance and notified Israel they are leaning toward supporting the Palestinian request in the vote, if the Palestinians provide the British with a number of guarantees to restart the peace negotiations without any preconditions and promise not to petition the International Criminal Court in The Hague against Israel. Israel hoped the British would not receive such guarantees and abstain. Finally Britain abstained.
But the hardest blow came from Berlin. In Jerusalem, Germany was considered a certainty to vote against the UN resolution, and the German decision not to oppose the Palestinian bid but rather to abstain shocked the top brass at the Israeli Foreign Ministry and prime minister's office, Haaretz said.
A senior German official, who has requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, told Haaretz that Germany has been trying to help Israel on the Palestinian issue for a long time but Israel has not taken the necessary steps to advance the peace process.
He said the Israelis did not respond in a way to our request for peace process.
Israeli officials were furious with the Germans. "The turnaround in the British position caused the Germans to change their vote since they did not want to remain isolated within the European Union," said an Israeli Foreign Ministry official.
Indecisive and confusing Israeli conduct surrounding the Palestinians' move at the UN has angered decision-makers in Germany. The Germans feel that Israeli officials have been secretive and uncooperative, the report said.
The high-ranking German official said "the resolution" to recognize a Palestinian state "is positive in one sense.
The German decision to abstain in the UN vote is expected to exacerbate the considerable tension between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which has been an issue in recent years, regardless of the current situation. There is a great deal of anger among officials in the Israeli Prime Minister's Office over the change in Germany's position, especially since the messages coming from the Germans until Thursday morning indicated it was their intention to vote against the resolution.
A summit meeting between the Israeli regime and German government is scheduled for next week in Berlin. Presumably the disagreement concerning the vote at the UN will cast a shadow on the discussions. Ever since Netanyahu became prime minister four years ago, his relations with Merkel have been very strained. Numerous times Merkel felt Netanyahu did not keep promises he had made to her, and she was especially angry at continued settlement construction, added the report.
Italian officials stated on Thursday that Italy will support the Palestinians in their UN bid. Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti called Netanyahu to inform him that Italy would also be changing its vote from abstention to support for the Palestinians.
Sweden's Foreign Minister Carl Bildt posted on his blog on Thursday that Sweden would also vote yes after initially considering abstaining. Belgium likewise announced its support for the Palestinian move.
The Czech Republic was the only country who voted against Palestine's bid. It was the only remaining EU member opposing the Palestinian move. Israel has conducted intensive contacts with Bulgaria and Romania in recent days, and the two countries decided to abstain. The Baltic nations Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania also announced they would abstain, as did Hungary and Poland, concluded the report.
Source: Agencies
The paper said as the hours wore on Thursday, the magnitude of the Israeli defeat in the United Nations General Assembly became continually clearer.
One after another, the Foreign Ministry and Prime Minister's Office received reports from Israeli embassies in Europe that countries were changing their votes at the last minute and leaning toward the Palestinians. A few hours before the vote, Israel understood that it was left without any Western support except for the United States, Canada and the Czech Republic.
"We lost Europe," said a senior Israeli Foreign Ministry official. The erosion of Israeli support and shift to the Palestinians started a few days ago in France. French President Francois Hollande's words at a press conference with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Paris a month ago, in which he expressed doubts about the Palestinian move in the UN, disappeared as if he never spoke them, the report said.
Despite previous declarations, France announced that instead of abstaining, it would vote in favor of recognizing Palestine as a non-member state.
Sixteen members of the European Union have announced their support for the Palestinian move: Spain, Cyprus, Portugal, Luxembourg, Finland, Denmark, Austria, Malta, Ireland, Italy, Slovenia, Belgium, Sweden, Germany and Greece all joined France in the past few days. Norway and Switzerland, which are not members of the European Union, also announced their support for the Palestinian request.
The UN General Assembly resolution recognizes Palestine within the 1967 borders as a non-member observer state. One hundred and thirty eight countries voted in favor of the resolution. Israel suffered a humiliating political defeat and found itself isolated along with the United States and Canada, Haaretz said.
Britain, which only a few days ago led the attempt to pressure Palestinian Authority's President Mahmoud Abbas to withdraw his resolution, also changed its position.
The British promised they would abstain or vote against, but changed their stance and notified Israel they are leaning toward supporting the Palestinian request in the vote, if the Palestinians provide the British with a number of guarantees to restart the peace negotiations without any preconditions and promise not to petition the International Criminal Court in The Hague against Israel. Israel hoped the British would not receive such guarantees and abstain. Finally Britain abstained.
But the hardest blow came from Berlin. In Jerusalem, Germany was considered a certainty to vote against the UN resolution, and the German decision not to oppose the Palestinian bid but rather to abstain shocked the top brass at the Israeli Foreign Ministry and prime minister's office, Haaretz said.
A senior German official, who has requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, told Haaretz that Germany has been trying to help Israel on the Palestinian issue for a long time but Israel has not taken the necessary steps to advance the peace process.
He said the Israelis did not respond in a way to our request for peace process.
Israeli officials were furious with the Germans. "The turnaround in the British position caused the Germans to change their vote since they did not want to remain isolated within the European Union," said an Israeli Foreign Ministry official.
Indecisive and confusing Israeli conduct surrounding the Palestinians' move at the UN has angered decision-makers in Germany. The Germans feel that Israeli officials have been secretive and uncooperative, the report said.
The high-ranking German official said "the resolution" to recognize a Palestinian state "is positive in one sense.
The German decision to abstain in the UN vote is expected to exacerbate the considerable tension between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which has been an issue in recent years, regardless of the current situation. There is a great deal of anger among officials in the Israeli Prime Minister's Office over the change in Germany's position, especially since the messages coming from the Germans until Thursday morning indicated it was their intention to vote against the resolution.
A summit meeting between the Israeli regime and German government is scheduled for next week in Berlin. Presumably the disagreement concerning the vote at the UN will cast a shadow on the discussions. Ever since Netanyahu became prime minister four years ago, his relations with Merkel have been very strained. Numerous times Merkel felt Netanyahu did not keep promises he had made to her, and she was especially angry at continued settlement construction, added the report.
Italian officials stated on Thursday that Italy will support the Palestinians in their UN bid. Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti called Netanyahu to inform him that Italy would also be changing its vote from abstention to support for the Palestinians.
Sweden's Foreign Minister Carl Bildt posted on his blog on Thursday that Sweden would also vote yes after initially considering abstaining. Belgium likewise announced its support for the Palestinian move.
The Czech Republic was the only country who voted against Palestine's bid. It was the only remaining EU member opposing the Palestinian move. Israel has conducted intensive contacts with Bulgaria and Romania in recent days, and the two countries decided to abstain. The Baltic nations Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania also announced they would abstain, as did Hungary and Poland, concluded the report.
Source: Agencies
