Palestine non-member observer status – a cause of celebration?

Unable to secure full membership Abbas petitioned the UN for non-member observer state status

On the 65^th Anniversary of the UN declaration that led to the creation of the state of Israel, the UN General Assembly has voted in favour of changing the Palestinian status from observer entity to non-member observer state. The semantics describing the extent of non-statehood for the Palestinians could not get more ludicrous yet the move is being presented has an improvement in the status of the Palestinians.

The vote for non-member observer status came a year after the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas applied to the UN for full membership which was rejected by the Security Council.

Abbas and the PLO are seeking UN recognition of a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, the lands Israel captured in 1967. Unable to secure full membership for a Palestinian state they petitioned the UN for non-member observer state status.

However, this is a false choice for the Muslims and is the politics of weakness and defeatism. The PLO started out vowing to end the Israeli occupation but following compromise after compromise and concession after concession is now celebrating the non-effectual “non-member observer status” of the UN.

In effect what we have seen is a “race to the bottom” in the status of the Palestinians not in their elevation.

Most importantly, it has forced compromise on issues that are not up for negotiation for Muslims.

Narrated Said bin Zaid:
Allah’s Apostle said, “Whoever usurps the land of somebody unjustly, his neck will be encircled with it down the seven earths (on the Day of Resurrection). ” [Bukhari Volume 3, Book 43]

Where is the justice for those whose lands have been usurped not only since 1967 but from 1948? What of the rights of those forced out of Palestine as permanent refugees in Syria, Egypt and Jordan. All sense of what’s right or just has been subject to waiver. Over time this devalues justice and principle until all sense of what’s right is lost and what is blatantly wrong appears fair seeming.

However, Allah (swt) says:

“Stand out firmly for justice, as witnesses to Allah, even as against yourselves, or your parents, or your kin, and whether it be (against) rich or poor: for Allah can best protect both” (Translated meaning of Quran 4:135)