Number 194*

Yesterday, thousands took to the streets of Ramallah, Bethlehem, Facebookistan to celebrate Palestine’s acceptance in the UN as a non-member state. Some of my friends on Facebook congratulated the people of Palestine on becoming the newest state.

Perhaps the UN vote is the beginning of a new chapter, giving Palestine more leverage on the international stage. This may give Palestine a chance to bring Israeli human rights violations to the International Criminal Court, for example. And it confirms to Israel and its ally, the United States, that the vast majority of the world stands with Palestine. But this is not news to anyone.

The UN vote is symbolic, at best. Actually, it might have made things worse. Here’s why:

• The occupation still occupies. Millions of Palestinians still live under the yoke of the Israeli military and are denied basic rights. Palestine might win a few small victories in the ICC, for example, but it doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things.

• Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is no Yasser Arafat in his ability to rally and inspire the Palestinian people, whatever his shortcomings may have been. And he is definitely no Nelson Mandela, in his ability to uncompromisingly advocate for what his people deserve, whatever the personal cost.

• The UN vote gives a false degree of credibility to the Palestinian Authority, which is one of the more corrupt and ineffectual governments this side of Somalia. Achieving a symbolic victory does not mean most Palestinians stop distrusting the PA/Fatah, with good reason.

• Israel, particularly when it is led by hawks like Prime Minister Netanyahu, does not really care what the UN says. Nor has it listened to the international community. It has ignored numerous UN Resolutions against its human rights violations over the years, and continues to build illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank despite international condemnation (including from President Obama himself). Israel is definitely isolated, yes. But Israel already knew that. And like many international pariahs (Iran comes to mind), as long as it has a  powerful friend–the United States–it can be assured that no real oppositional pressure will dramatically change Israeli policy.

• In fact, less than 24 hours after Palestine was accepted as a the state by the UN, the Israeli government approved 3,000 new settlement homes in a block between East Jerusalem and Ma’ale Adumim. 3,000 more homes to the already 500,000 settlers might not seem like much, but the location of these new settlements means that the North West Bank and South West Bank are neatly divided by this new block, making a contiguous Palestinian West Bank, and by extension a Palestinian state within 1967 borders, even more tenuous. Basically, this is a big Israeli middle finger to the UN.

• Some armchair slacktivists (of course, there are people doing good work on social media too), content with their witty Facebook updates and premature congrats, can move on to the next trendy topic.

It might be grim, but the UN vote seems like another Oslo Accords to me. It gives false hope in the Palestinian Authority to grant Palestinians the right to self-determination once and for all, but at a price which is ultimately too steep for its people to accept. This might be one of the few times I agree with the United States and Israel on anything Palestine related: the UN vote was counterproductive and takes the world’s eyes away from the real issues at hand.