30/9/11 - Vatican supports two-state solution in Israel-Palestine conflict

Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, Secretary for Relations with States of the Holy See, addresses the General Assembly. Credit: UN Photo-Lou Rouse

Related articles:

• Meeting with state authorities in the grounds of the Palace of Holyroodhouse
• Vatican Document on Euthanasia
• Peace Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi
• Remarks at the Regina Coeli in Floriana

New York City, N.Y., Sep 29, 2011 / 01:11 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, the Vatican’s number two State Department official, called Sept. 27 for a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in remarks delivered in New York. He insisted that “if we want peace, courageous decisions have to be made.”

Archbishop Mamberti, whose official title is Secretary for Relations with States, encouraged “the realization of the right of Palestinians to have their own independent and sovereign state, and the right of Israelis to guarantee their security.” He also insisted that both states be “provided with internationally recognized borders.”

The archbishop addressed the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York on Sept. 27. In his French-language address, he discussed Palestine’s Sept. 23 application to be recognized as a member state of the United Nations.

Archbishop Mamberti referenced Resolution 181 of the General Assembly, also known as the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine.

The resolution, which was adopted in 1947, recommended the creation of two states in the Palestine region.

“This fundamental document raises the legal basis for the existence of two states,” he said.

“One of the states has already been created, while the other has not been established yet, although nearly sixty-four years have passed.”

Archbishop Mamberti expressed hope “that the bodies of the United Nations will take a commitment to helping the effective implementation of the ultimate objective” of ensuring security, sovereignty and independence for both Palestinians and Israelis.

“The U.N. response will not constitute a complete solution and we will not achieve lasting peace without negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians, avoiding actions or conditions that contradict the statements of goodwill,” the archbishop acknowledged.

“The Holy See, therefore, urges the parties to resume negotiations with determination and addresses an urgent appeal to the international community to increase its commitment and to stimulate its creativity and its initiative, so that we can arrive at a lasting peace, respecting the rights of Israelis and Palestinians.”

The Vatican has previously chosen not to comment on Palestine’s bid for statehood, although the idea was strongly supported by the former Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem.

The United States has voiced opposition to the measure, arguing that Palestinian statehood should be accomplished only with the cooperation of Israel. The United States is expected to veto a Palestinian resolution asking for recognition as a member state in the U.N. Security Council.

Israel has also opposed Palestinian statehood, arguing that a unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state by the United Nations would effectively “delegitimize” the statehood of Israel.

30/9/11 - U.N. panel's report on Palestinian statehood bid due in 2 weeks

From Mick Krever, CNN

September 30, 2011 -- Updated 1909 GMT (0309 HKT)

Permanent Observer Riyad Mansour hopes the Palestinian application for statehood will be accepted.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: The Security Council holds its first substantive debate on the issue
• The Palestinian Authority hopes the application will be accepted
• The U.N. General Assembly could vote to upgrade the status of Palestinians
• The body change the Palestinians to a permanent observer "state"

United Nations (CNN) -- A U.N. committee will issue a report on its analysis of the historic Palestinian bid for statehood in two weeks, the Security Council president said Friday.

The announcement by Lebanese U.N. Ambassador Nawaf Salam, who holds the rotating Security Council presidency for September, came after the Council held its first substantive debate on the application since it was submitted by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Several diplomats said after the meeting that there is a consensus about the need to deal with the matter swiftly and seriously.

"It was a good meeting," said British Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant. "We set out our positions, mainly on procedural issues, but some substantive."

If a committee majority says the prospective Palestinian state fulfills the U.N. charter's requirements, it will send the application back to the full Security Council for a vote.

The Palestinians would then need nine of 15 votes in their favor, and no veto from any of the five countries that are permanent members of the council.

U.S. officials have vowed to block the measure, though they most likely want to avoid an American veto out of concern over a potential backlash across the Middle East.

The General Assembly, however, could still vote to upgrade the status of Palestinians, who currently hold the status of nonvoting observer "entity." The body could change that status to permanent observer "state," identical to the Vatican's standing at the United Nations.

U.S. President Barack Obama has said he supports Palestinian statehood but has remained steadfast to a longstanding U.S. position that Israel must be part of the discussions.

Abbas' effort to gain U.N. recognition of a Palestinian state is also opposed by Hamas, the Palestinian organization that controls Gaza.

It has warned the Palestinian leader against making the request, saying it would show a willingness to acknowledge and negotiate with Israel, which would "deprive the Palestinian people from their right to come back to their homeland."

Despite the push in New York, negotiations remain the preferred option for the Palestinian Authority going forward, according to Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat, who said Israel's refusal to halt settlement activity and accept 1967 lines as the starting point for talks make the resumption of dialogue impossible.

The Palestinians claim the land Israel occupied in East Jerusalem and the West Bank after the 1967 war as part of a future Palestinian state.

"We're asking the Israeli government to say in any language -- Arabic, Hebrew, English, Chinese, French," Erakat said Thursday after a meeting of the PLO executive committee. "Netanyahu please say it -- two states on 1967 lines for Palestine to live side by side with the state of Israel. If he cannot utter these numbers and these words, what does he want to do with me?"

But Netanyahu has said the Palestinians are looking for a "state without peace," ignoring security concerns important to Israel.

He said Palestinians are armed not only with their "hopes and dreams" -- a phrase Abbas used in a September 23 speech before the U.N. General Assembly -- but with "10,000 missiles, and Grad rockets supplied by Iran, not to mention the river of lethal weapons flowing into Gaza."

"Palestinians should first make peace with Israel and then get their state," Netanyahu said as he followed Abbas to the rostrum, adding that peace must arrive through a two-state solution that recognizes Israel as a Jewish state.

If that occurs, Israel "will be the first" to recognize Palestinian statehood, the prime minister said.

Lower-level envoys from the Security Council members will meet again on the issue next week, according to Ambassador Salam.

Comment:
If the Land of Israel is divided in 2 weeks, then it fulfills the prophecy of Dan 9:27:

Dan 9:27 And he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week. And in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the offering to cease, and on a corner of the altar desolating abominations, even until the end. And that which was decreed shall be poured on the desolator.


Mat 24:15-21 Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place (whoever reads, let him understand). (16) Then let those in Judea flee into the mountains. (17) Let him on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house; (18) nor let him in the field turn back to take his clothes. (19) And woe to those who are with child, and to those who give suck in those days! (20) But pray that your flight is not in the winter, nor on the sabbath day; (21) for then shall be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world to this time; no, nor ever shall be.

This might be the time of the 7 Year Tribulation that will include the 3,5 years Great Tribulation starting in the midst of this "week" (7 years). Lets wait and see what will pan out and if this Prophecy will be fulfilled.

30/9/11 - Europe supports Palestinian statehood

Published: Sept. 29, 2011 at 9:26 AM

Comments (13)

Email

Print

Listen

 

Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian Authority president, addresses the 66th session of the United Nations General Assembly at the UN on September 23, 2011 in New York City. Abbas is asking the UN to recognize Palestinian statehood, against the wishes of the US and Israel. UPI/Monika Graff 

Related Stories

• Abbas: Settlement freeze, then peace talks
• Israel approves new Jerusalem housing
• Israel: Talks before Palestine statehood
• Palestine's Abbas cheered after U.N. trip

BRUSSELS, Sept. 29 (UPI) -- The right of Palestinians to advance in the international community as an independent state is "unquestionable," the European Parliament declared.

The U.N. Security Council announced Wednesday that it referred an application for full membership submitted by Palestinian authorities to a U.N. committee tasked with vetting new members. The submission was part of a unilateral statehood initiative launched by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
The European Parliament, in a resolution passed Thursday, said lawmakers viewed the Palestinian bid for statehood as legitimate.
"The right of Palestinians to self-determination and to have their own state is unquestionable, as is the right of Israel to exist within safe borders," the resolution reads.

GALLERY: Clashes in the West Bank over Palestinian statehood

European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek said MPs expressed support for Israel and an independent Palestine living side by side in a peaceful relationship.
Washington has said it opposed the Palestinian initiative, believing the best path forward was through close negotiations between both sides, a track pursued with few breakthroughs for several decades.
Buzek said the sea change in the Middle East suggested that a business-as-usual model was no longer effective.
"Following the tremendous changes brought by the Arab Spring, all the more (shows) the status quo is not a viable option," he said. "The time for peace is now."

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2011/09/29/Europe-supports-Palestinian-statehood/UPI-26251317302802/#ixzz1ZUe75mZu

30/9/11 - Palestinians press Security Council members to back UN statehood bid

PA President Abbas expected to leave for Colombia, which holds a temporary seat at the UNSC, next week; Palestinian official: We expect countries that have recognized Palestinian independence in the past to support UN bid.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is due to leave for Colombia next week, in an attempt to convince officials in the South American nation to support a bid for Palestinian statehood at the United Nations Security Council.

A Palestinian official speaking with Haaretz on Friday, said that "within the Security Council there are nine nations who had already recognized a Palestinian state, so the Palestinians expect those countries to support the [UN] proposal too."

	Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas speaking at the UN General Assembly, Sept. 23, 2010
	Photo by: AP

"And yet," the official added, "pressure is being exerted on Columbia through sates such as Brazil, Argentina, and Chile, as well as pressure from the other side being exerted by Russia and the Arab States on Bosnia."

Haaretz has also learned that the Arab states have been pressuring Bosnia by threatening not to support a recognition of Kosovo's independence if Bosnia failed to back the Palestinian bid at the UNSC.

Bosnia and Colombia are both temporary members of the UNSC, making them crucial in the Palestinian bid to gain full recognition as an independent state in the Security Council.

Currently, the 15-member UN Security Council is reviewing the issue. The U.S. has already said it would veto the request should the Palestinians muster the required nine votes.

After the Palestinians' bid to seek full membership at the United Nations, the Quartet of Mideast mediators - the United States, the UN, the European Union and Russia - called for the resumption of talks and a deal within a year. The Quartet statement did not specifically refer to the two Palestinian demands, but listed a number of speeches, UN resolutions and other documents that contain them.

Commenting on the Quartet statement on Thursday, Yasser Abed Rabbo, the secretary general of the PLO said the Quartet statement contains encouraging elements and we call on Israel to announce its commitment to the principles and points of reference it identifies."

Abed Rabbo said that despite the encouraging elements, it is not enough to resume negotiations. The Palestinians are eager to restart talks, but Israel first has to commit to all references in the Quartet statement, "especially concerning the borders of 1967 and stopping settlement activity," he said.

29/9/11 - We have eight Security Council votes': Palestinians

RELATED CONTENT

• 
  Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Malki gestures during a press conference in …
• 
  Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas holds a copy of the letter requesting statehood …

WORLD SLIDESHOWS

• 

  Strauss-Kahn, French accuser meet face-to-face

  24 photos - Sat, Sep 24, 2011
• 

  Two Gadhafi sons on Interpol's most-wanted list

  7 photos - 6 hrs ago
• 

  Ex-Ukraine PM Yulia Tymoshenko on trial

  45 photos - 44 mins ago

See latest photos »

The Palestinians have secured eight Security Council yes votes for their UN membership bid, just one short of the nine they need, the Palestinian foreign minister said on Thursday.

Speaking to reporters in Ramallah, Riyad al-Malki said he had received assurances from two additional nations -- Nigeria and Gabon -- that they would vote in favour of the Palestinian bid for full state membership at the UN.

"We have eight states that will vote for Palestine in the Security Council," he said. "We are working hard to have a ninth and a tenth."

Malki said the Palestinians have assurances of "yes" votes from Lebanon, Russia, China, India, South Africa and Brazil, in addition to the new confirmations from Nigeria and Gabon.

"We are working on Bosnia, Colombia and Portugal," he added, saying he was scheduled to visit Bosnia shortly, and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas will make stops in Colombia, Portugal, Honduras and the Dominican Republic in October.

Abbas will also deliver an address in Strasbourg on October 6, he said.

The Palestinians need to secure at least nine Security Council votes in favour of their membership bid for it to be approved and advanced to the General Assembly.

Even with the requisite nine votes, the United States has pledged to use its veto to block the request, but the Palestinians hope they can at least claim a diplomatic victory by securing a majority in the Security Council.

Abbas submitted the bid on Friday, shortly before he delivered a historic address to the General Assembly, urging their support for the request.

After closed-door debate on Monday, the Security Council on Wednesday referred the request to a committee set to meet on Friday.

The bid has attracted criticism from Washington and divided the membership of the European Union, raising the prospect that the Security Council might seek to delay a vote altogether to avoid embarrassing its members.

But Malki said the Palestinians would not accept any delay "for political reasons."

US and EU representatives sought to head off the bid before it was submitted to the United Nations, trying to put together a proposal for new peace talks that would convince the Palestinians to drop their request.

Instead, they announced their new proposal shortly after the request was submitted, calling for talks to resume within a month with the goal of achieving a deal before the end of 2012.

Negotiations have been on hold for just over a year, grinding to a halt shortly after they began over the issue of Israeli settlement construction.

The Palestinians say they will not hold talks while Israel builds on land they want for their future state, but Israel says negotiations should restart without preconditions, and declined to renew a 10-month partial settlement freeze that expired shortly after the talks began last year.

Both sides have responded cautiously to the Quartet proposal, with the Israelis saying they are studying the offer and the Palestinians emphasising that they will not hold talks without a settlement freeze.

28/9/11 - 10 Reasons Why A Palestinian State Is A Really, Really Bad Idea

Giving the Palestinians a state is a really, really bad idea.  But the world seems obsessed with giving them one anyway.  The sad truth is that a Palestinian state is not going to bring peace to the region.  It is not going to bring an end to the conflict between the Jewish people and the Palestinians.  Rather, it is just going to embolden those that desire to see Israel wiped off the map.  As you will see below, poll after poll has demonstrated that the Palestinians overwhelmingly believe that a "two state solution" is only an intermediate step toward the eventual goal of taking all of the land away from Israel, and the vast majority of Palestinians still support committing terrorist acts against the Jewish people.  You cannot pacify radical jihadists that are obsessed with genocide by giving them land.  In addition, if global leaders do try to carve up the land of Israel, that is going to very much upset the Lord God Almighty.  But we live in the last days, and we know that these kinds of things are going to happen.
The Palestinians have now submitted their formal request for statehood to the United Nations.  The U.S. and the EU are blocking that bid at the moment and they are trying to encourage the Palestinians to renew negotiations with Israel, but that does not mean that they don't want to give the Palestinians a state.
In fact, the U.S. and the EU have both publicly stated that the Palestinians should be given a state based on pre-1967 borders.
It is just that the U.S. and the EU want a Palestinian state to come about through direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.
But what kind of negotiating position does that put Israel in?  The U.S. and the EU have already basically promised the Palestinians a state based on pre-1967 borders with East Jerusalem as the capital.
Unless Israel plans to give up East Jerusalem, negotiations are never going to work.  The Palestinians will just keep insisting on East Jerusalem until the rest of the world finally gives it to them.
Not that the Palestinians should ever be given one inch of land.  God gave all of that land to the people of Israel forever.
But unfortunately, most of the politicians around the world think that they know better than God does.
The following are 10 reasons why a Palestinian state is a really, really bad idea....
#1 The "Palestinian territories" are currently ruled by two separate governments.  One of them is a terrorist organization.  Right now, Hamas rules Gaza and Fatah rules the West Bank.  So how can Mahmoud Abbas speak for all of them?  And how will they suddenly become "one people" once they have been given a state?
#2 A large number of Palestinians do not agree with the statehood request that Abbas has submitted.  You would think that this fact would be reported by the mainstream media, but they have been largely silent about this.
The reality, however, is that a number of key Palestinian organizations are very much against what Abbas is doing.  For example, WorldNetDaily recently reported that Hamas has loudly denounced this statehood request....

Major Palestinian factions, including terrorist organizations, reject Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' United Nations statehood request, arguing Abbas does not represent the Palestinian people.

Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri said Abbas' U.N. petition "lacks any legitimacy."

#3 The vast majority of Palestinians do not believe that creating a Palestinian state will resolve the conflict with Israel.
So if that is the case, then what in the world is creating a Palestinian state actually going to accomplish?
According to one recent survey, only 34 percent of Palestinians consider the
"two state solution" to be the answer to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
But you don't hear numbers like that in the mainstream media, do you?
#4 Giving the Palestinians a state would create a brand new state sponsor of terror in the heart of the Middle East.
Right now, the Palestinians continually commit acts of terrorism against the Jewish people.  The Palestinian Authority is either unwilling or unable to stop this violence.
So why would giving the Palestinians a state change anything?
The truth is that the poll numbers reveal what is really going on....
*According to one recent poll, 58 percent of all Palestinians prefer “armed struggle” over “engagement with Israel”.
*According to another recent poll, 73 percent of all Palestinians agree with the hadith quoted in the Hamas Charter that talks about killing Jews.
*The same poll found that 62 percent of all Palestinians support kidnapping Israeli soldiers and holding them hostage.
Why in the world would the U.S. and the EU support the creation of another terrorist state?
#5 The Palestinians still refuse to recognize that Israel has the right to exist.
The Palestinians want the rest of the world to give them huge chunks of the land of Israel without the Palestinians having to give up anything in return.  In fact, they don't even plan to recognize that the nation of Israel has a right to exist.
So what kind of neighbor do you think they will be for Israel?
This refusal to recognize Israel is deeply rooted in the Palestinian psyche.  For example, one recent poll found that only 12 percent of all Palestinians agree that official maps, documents and school textbooks should show the name "Israel".
#6 The Palestinian people are still very much dedicated to the destruction of Israel.
According to one recent poll, two-thirds of all Palestinians believe that the eventual goal of the Palestinians must be "to get back all the land for a Palestinian state."
The primary goal of the Palestinians has never changed.  For example, Abu Mujaheed, a spokesperson for the Popular Resistance Committees, recently told WorldNetDaily the following....

"For Palestinians, the borders are based on 1948 (all of Israel) and this is not negotiable."

So how are you supposed to "negotiate" with someone like that?
If the world wants to give big chunks of land to the Palestinians for free, they will gladly take it.
But it will do nothing to dissuade them from their ultimate goal.
In fact, the Hamas charter still calls for the destruction of Israel.  That has not changed.
So why should the rest of the world reward such behavior?
#7 You cannot pacify people that are committed to genocide by giving them land.
It did not work with Hitler and it will not work with the Palestinians.
Hatred for the Jews is growing to a fever pitch all over the Middle East.  Just check out the following example from a recent article in The Blaze....

While perhaps not shocking, it is profoundly disturbing that in the purportedly more “moderate” Egypt of 2011, demonstrators took to the streets outside the Israeli embassy in Cairo with signs bearing swastikas and a message that read: “the gas chambers are ready.”

How in the world are you going to make "peace" with people who think like that?
#8 The pre-1967 borders would make Israel indefensible.
At the narrowest point, Israel would only be 8 miles wide if they were forced to go back to those borders.
The nation would basically become impossible to defend.
In fact, former Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Abba Eban referred to them as “Auschwitz borders”.
#9 In the Bible, the Lord God Almighty warns against dividing the land of Israel.
The book of Joel is all about the return of Jesus Christ to this earth at the end of the Great Tribulation.  In Joel 3:2 it tells us that one of the things that Jesus will judge the nations for is dividing up the land of Israel....

"...There I will put them on trial for what they did to my inheritance, my people Israel, because they scattered my people among the nations and divided up my land."

In case you haven't noticed, whenever the United States gets involved in trying to divide up the land of Israel we seem to get hit by a major disaster of some sort.
In a previous article, I detailed some of the disasters that have happened when the U.S. government has tried to mess around with the land of Israel....

#1) On April 30, 2003, America was positioned to be the catalyst for the so-called "solution" to the Middle East crisis. As Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas was sworn in, the "Road Map" peace plan was set in motion.

The very next day began the worst month of tornadoes in United States history - more than 500 in a single month. Under normal conditions, 1,000 tornadoes hit the United States each year, but in just eight days that May, 375 twisters ripped across the heartland of America.

#2) May 9, 2003, President Bush addressed students at the University of South Carolina. Bush called on the Palestinians to embrace the roadmap to peace, and Bush expressed his desire to see the flag of Palestine raised over a free nation.

Hours later, tornadoes returned and Oklahoma City again became the target for deadly twisters, reducing many businesses and homes to splinters and bricks. The tornadoes of May devastated the Midwest with the third worst property damage in American history.

#3) On October 30, 1991, in a meeting scheduled by George H.W. Bush, Israelis and Palestinians discussed ways to achieve peace in the Middle East. Opening talks focused on trading parts of Israel for a peace agreement.

That same day, thousands of miles away, a powerful storm was brewing off of the coast of Nova Scotia. On October 31st, what would be known as "The Perfect Storm" smashed into New England, pummeling the President's Kennebunkport, Maine home with waves 30 feet high. It was a storm so rare that the weather patterns required to create it only happen about once every 100 years.

#4) On August 23rd, 1992, Middle East peace talks resumed in Washington, D.C. with hope that there would be a great breakthrough. These talks focused on surrendering the biblical lands of Judea and Samaria in exchange for peace. Hundreds of miles south of there at the same time, Florida was the target for one of the worst natural disasters in U.S. history. Hurricane Andrew ripped through the state with an eye more than 30 miles wide and winds up to 178 miles per hour leaving behind a 32 billion dollar disaster.

#5) Between August 16th and 30th, 2005, Ariel Sharon expelled 9,480 Jewish settlers from 21 settlements in Gaza and four settlements in the northern West Bank.

On January 4th, 2006, Sharon had a stroke, and he fell into a coma and is now in a persistent vegetative state.

#6) The U.S. had strongly pressured Sharon to evacuate those settlers from Gaza.

On August 29th, 2005 the storm that would become Hurricane Katrina formed, and it devastated New Orleans and the surrounding areas to such an extent that they still have not recovered. That devastating storm caused at least 200 billion dollars in damage.

#7) In June of 2001, George W. Bush sent CIA director George Tenet to Israel in an attempt to implement the Mitchell Plan. The Mitchell plan called for, among other things, the cessation of new building in the Jewish settlements.

On the same day that Tenet met with Israeli and Palestinian officials, tropical storm Allison formed in the Gulf of Mexico and moved over Texas, the President's home state, and dropped over 28 inches of rain over the Houston area alone, causing over $4 billion dollars in damage. The storm then moved to Florida and up the east coast causing damage as far as Pennsylvania. The meteorologists called Allison the "worst tropical storm in history".

There are many more examples of this phenomenon right here.
Could many of the bizarre natural disasters that we have seen this year also be linked to what Obama has been trying to do to the land of Israel?
In the Scriptures, it tells us that God gave the land to the people of Israel.  We should not be trying to mess around with that.  Psalm 105:8-11 says the following....

He hath remembered his covenant for ever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations. Which covenant he made with Abraham, and his oath unto Isaac; And confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant: Saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance

#10 The Palestinians are going to insist on East Jerusalem as their capital, but that city belongs to the Lord.
In Zechariah 12:3, we are warned that the city of Jerusalem will one day become a huge stumbling stone for the nations....

"On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure themselves."

Is that not what has happened?
Jerusalem seems to be the "problem" that has no answer.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised to never, ever let Jerusalem become divided.
But the Palestinians have said that they will never accept a state that does not include East Jerusalem.
The Palestinian people are incredibly united on this issue.  One recent survey found that 92 percent of Palestinians believe that Jerusalem should be the capital of the future Palestinian state.
So will they get East Jerusalem?
Well, it certainly does not help when United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is running around saying stuff like this....

"...a way must be found for Jerusalem to emerge as a capital of two States, Israel and Palestine, with arrangements for holy sites acceptable for all."

Not only that, but Barack Obama and many top EU leaders have already essentially promised East Jerusalem to the Palestinians.
So what we have is a huge mess.
Eventually we are probably going to see a Palestinian state.
And then after that we are probably going to see a major war.
A Palestinian state is not going to bring peace.
Instead, it is just going to make war much more likely.
These are the last days, and Bible prophecy is going to be fulfilled.
Let us pray for the peace of Israel and let us pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

23/9/11 - Palestinians submit UN statehood bid

By AMY TEIBEL and MOHAMMED DARAGHMEH  Associated Press

AP Photo/David Karp US Video Advertisement Multimedia Assault on Gaza: Mapping the attacks Gaza assault takes its toll on children A closer look at Hamas Latest News Palestinians take to streets to cheer on UN bid FACT CHECK: Abbas presents disputed narrative Latest developments in Arab world's unrest Israel's Labor Party picks ex-journalist as leader TV: Former journalist to lead Israel's Labor Party PHOTO GALLERY Conflict in the Middle East Buy AP Photo Reprints UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- The Palestinian leader took his people's quest for independence to the heart of world diplomacy on Friday, hoping to galvanize their flagging statehood campaign by seeking U.N. recognition of Palestine and sidestepping negotiations that have foundered for nearly two decades under the weight of inflexibility, violence and failure of will. The bid to recognize a state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem - submitted against the will of a U.S. administration that had pressured President Mahmoud Abbas to drop it - laid bare the deep sense of exasperation the Palestinians feel after 44 years of Israeli occupation. International reservations about the move have had the effect of reenergizing international efforts to seek a negotiated settlement. After Abbas submitted his formal application, international mediators called on Israelis and Palestinians to return to long-stalled negotiations and reach an agreement no later than next year. The "Quartet" - the U.S., European Union, U.N. and Russia - urged both parties to draw up an agenda for peace talks within a month and produce comprehensive proposals on territory and security within three months. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the proposal "represents the firm conviction of the international community that a just and lasting peace can only come through negotiations between the parties." But similar plans have failed to produce a peace agreement in the past, and it was how the two sides could bridge their huge differences and resume talks. The Quartet statement was radically different from what diplomats had been hoping to draft since it became clear that Abbas would not back down. U.S. and European officials had been trying to craft a statement that would itself outline parameters of the negotiations, including a reference to borders being based on the 1967 lines and affirm Israel's identity as a Jewish state. Instead, the Quartet focused on proposing deadlines for steps the two sides should take. World sympathy for the Palestinian cause was evident from the thunderous applause that greeted Abbas as he mounted the dais in the General Assembly hall to deliver a speech that laid out his grievances against the Israeli occupation and why he felt compelled to take his appeal directly to the United Nations. In a scathing denunciation of Israel's settlement policy, Abbas declared that negotiations with Israel "will be meaningless" as long as it continues building on lands the Palestinians claim for that state. Invoking what would be a nightmare for Israel, he went so far as to warn that his government could collapse if the construction persists. "This policy is responsible for the continued failure of the successive international attempts to salvage the peace process," said Abbas, who has refused to negotiate until the construction stops. "This settlement policy threatens to also undermine the structure of the Palestinian National Authority and even end its existence." The speech papered over any Palestinian culpability for the negotiations stalemate, deadly violence against Israel, the internal rift that has produced dueling governments in the West Bank and Gaza, and ignored Jewish links to the Holy Land. Some members of the Israeli delegation, including Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, walked out of the hall as Abbas approached the podium. Abbas declared himself willing to immediately return to the bargaining table, but with longstanding conditions attached: Israel must first stop building on lands the Plaesitnians claim for their future state and agree to negotiate borders based on lines it held before capturing the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem in 1967. Israel rejects those conditions and has defied international pressure to freeze settlement construction. And it has staked out bargaining positions that are extremely distant from anything the Palestinians would accept. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, addressing the General Assembly shortly after Abbas, said his country was "willing to make painful compromises" in its quest for peace. But while Palestinians "should live in a free state of their own," he said, "they should be "ready for compromise" and "start taking Israel's security concerns seriously." Netanyahu opposes negotiations based on 1967 lines, saying a return to those frontiers would expose Israel's heartland to rocket fire from the West Bank. He argued that rocket fire on Israel from evacuated territory in south Lebanon and Gaza showed that territorial compromise would not automatically resolve the conflict. Talks for all intents and purposes broke down nearly three years ago after Israel went to war in Gaza and prepared to hold national elections that propelled Netanyahu to power for a second time. A last round, backed by the U.S., was launched a year ago, with the ambitious aim of producing a framework accord for a peace deal. But it broke down just three weeks later after an Israeli settlement construction slowdown expired. The statehood bid would not deliver any immediate changes on the ground: Israel would remain an occupying force in the West Bank and east Jerusalem and continue to restrict access to Gaza, ruled by Palestinian Hamas militants. Even so, thousands of jubilant, flag-waving Palestinians, watching on outdoor screens across the West Bank, cheered on their president as he submitted his historic request for a U.N. nod. In Nablus, the crowd roared ecstatically when Abbas, known as Abu Mazen, told the General Assembly that he had submitted the request for full U.N. membership. "We are here celebrating because Abu Mazen is making us a state. We want to have our own state, like any other country," said Reem al-Masri. The 30-year-old schoolteacher lost a brother and two cousins in fighting with Israel during the second Palestinian uprising against occupation a decade ago. Abbas, who never enjoyed the popular adulation accorded his predecessor, the iconic Yasser Arafat, has seen his popularity take off over his U.N. move, allowing him to gain ground, at least for the time being, against his Islamic militant Hamas rivals. U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon referred the statehood request to the Security Council, where U.S. opposition is expected to shoot it down. The U.S. and Israel have also been pressuring Council members to either vote against the plan or abstain when it comes up for a vote. The vote would require the support of nine of the Council's 15 members to pass, but even if the Palestinians could line up that backing, a U.S. veto is assured. The Security Council will meet on Monday to examine the Palestinian membership request. The Palestinians have said that in the absence of a positive outcome in the Council, they will turn to the General Assembly, which would be expected to approve a lesser status upgrade from permanent observer to nonmember observer state. While more modest, this option would be valuable to the Palestinians because of the implicit recognition that negotiations would be based on lines Israel held before capturing the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza in 1967. It would also give the Palestinians access to international judicial bodies such as the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court, which Israel fears would target them unfairly. Hanging heavy in the air was the threat of renewed violence over frustrated Palestinian aspirations, in spite of Abbas' vow - perceived by Israeli security officials as genuine - to prevent Palestinian violence. The death on Friday of 35-year-old Issam Badram, in gunfire that erupted after rampaging Jewish settlers destroyed trees in a Palestinian grove, was the type of incident that both Palestinians and Israelis had feared would spark widespread violence. It was not clear how serious Abbas was about his very public threat to dissolve his limited self-rule government, born of the landmark accords Israel and the Palestinians signed in the 1990s. Dissolution would put 150,000 Palestinians out of work and cause utter chaos. Israel, which is skeptical of such talk, would be saddled with the welfare and policing of 2.5 million unwanted Palestinian subjects.