REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JERUSALEM - A UN General Assembly vote on Thursday recognizing a Palestinian state will do nothing to make it a reality in practice, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, "no matter how many hands are raised against us". Yet, Netanyahu made no mention of any punitive Israeli measures in his remarks, in contrast to Israeli comments just weeks ago.
Just two weeks ago, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said the UN Assembly's approval of the Palestinian resolution would "elicit an extreme response from us". Another member of Netanyahu's right-wing cabinet, Environment Minister Gilad Erdan, said three years ago that Israeli counter-measures could include annexing some of the 120 settlements in the West Bank, territory captured in a 1967 war and which Palestinians say should belong to their state.
Israel is now threatening only one measure: the withholding of 200 million USD from the monthly transfers of duties that Israel collects on the Palestinian Authority's behalf. It says it will cover the PA's debt to the Israel Electric Corporation. The deduction, equal to two months' worth of Palestinian tax receipts, would be painful for Abbas's cash-strapped government in Ramallah. But it would stop short of a formal suspension of transfers vital to the economy in the occupied West Bank.
Israel has previously frozen payments to the PA during times of heightened security and diplomatic tensions, provoking strong international criticism, such as when the UN cultural body UNESCO granted the Palestinians full membership a year ago.
Despite its fierce opposition to the Palestinian bid to become a "non-member state" at the United Nations, Israel seems unwilling to show itself diplomatically isolated and has toned down threats of retaliation in the face of wide international support for the initiative, notably among its European allies.
"No matter how many hands are raised against us," Netanyahu said of the UN vote, "there is no power on earth that will cause me to compromise on Israel's security."
The vote takes place on a date burned into collective memory - when the Assembly voted on Nov. 29, 1947 for Resolution 181, to partition British-ruled Palestine into two states, one Arab, one Jewish. Arab rulers rejected it and, after bitter fighting, Israel alone was recognized as a state six months later. Israel has occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem since 1967.
European countries, which had been largely supportive of Israel's Nov. 14-21 Gaza offensive, started showing their backing for Abbas's UN move. At least 11 of the 27 European Union states say they will vote in favour of the Palestinian motion, while Israel's closest EU ally, Germany, has said it will abstain.
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