PLO status after statehood bid debated – British expert Int’l Law says refugees could lose their representation


Related: Special Topic Refugees


PressTV – Wed Aug 31, 2011 1:50AM GMT
A British expert in international law says Palestinian refugees outside the West Bank and Gaza could lose their representation at the UN if the Palestinian Authority (PA) succeeds in its UN statehood bid, Press TV reported.

Oxford Law Professor, Guy Goodwin Gill has published a seven-page legal opinion that claims it identifies the underlying flaws to a unified representation of all Palestinians, arguing it potentially affects the rights of the Palestinian people to self-rule, reported Press TV correspondent on Tuesday.

“The way in which the Palestinian right to self-determination may be exercised following a successful UN statehood bid, requires attention; because a sizeable proportion of the people might become inadvertently disenfranchised”, says Professor Goodwin Gill’s report.

Palestinian leaders are seeking to have the United Nation’s acknowledge their state and let it join the rest of the 193 members of the world body, in September, amid vehement opposition by US and Israel.

Should the bid go through, great many Palestinian refugees, making up the diaspora living outside of the occupied territories, could risk having their equal representation challenged, according to this legal paper.

The reason is that, Palestinian representation would then move from PLO — presently seen as the exclusive and legitimate representative of Palestinians world over — to the Ambassador of the would-be state based jointly in Gaza and the West Bank only, which technically leaves out the Diaspora.

Since 1974, the PLO has enjoyed observer status at the UN, which Goodwin-Gill suggests would now be transferred to the state of Palestine if either full membership or enhanced status is won next month.

Meanwhile, most Palestinian legal experts have not yet taken sides, but some representatives of PLO factions have expressed disagreement with Gills opinion, arguing that “as a state, Palestine can prosecute Israel for war crimes at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and will gain a legal leverage that is presently missing.

Speaking to Press TV, Sha’wan Jabareen from the Al-Haq Organization –an independent Palestinian non-governmental human rights organization based in Ramallah — said, “the concern and question is whether or not the state would precede the PLO or vice versa”.

PLO negotiating teams should take a closer look at Gills’ opinion, say many Palestinians who fear that the Oxford professor’s idea may be quite accurate in depicting a dysfunctional reality on the part of PLO.

This fear is essentially a lack of trust that the Palestinian people have towards the Palestinian negotiating team, headed by Saeb Erekat, particularly after the infamous Palestine papers were exposed. This glaring lack of trust is predicated on almost 2 decades of failed negotiations with Israel, at the hand of PLO.

Professor Gill’s opinion does not suggest whether or not the Palestinian leadership should seek recognition for a Palestinian state at the UN.

The main question in this legalistic argument is if the State of Palestine is actually recognized by the UN, and the State substitutes the PLO in representing all Palestinian people at the international body, will any rights of any Palestinians living outside of Gaza and the West Bank, be fortuitously compromised?

JZ/MGH

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