<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[Occupied Palestine | فلسطين]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[occupiedpalestine]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/author/hajarhajar/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[Wild Card IX: Obama’s first litmus test just around the&nbsp;corner]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p class="byline"><abbr class="published" title="Friday, January 7th, 2011, 6:26 am">Friday, January 7 2011<span class="author vcard">|<span class="url fn n"> Ami Kaufman | + 972 Magazine<br />
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<div><strong><em>The Palestinians are bringing their first challenge of the year to the UN. Hopefully, Barack Obama will just sit back and watch</em></strong></div>
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<div id="attachment_8119" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width:619px;"><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-8119" title="Obama" src="https://i1.wp.com/972mag.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Obama.jpg" alt="" width="619" height="413" /></p>
<p class="wp-caption-text">President Obama. Time for some payback? (photo: Flickr / MattCadwallader)</p>
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<div>U.S. President Barack Obama may be put to the test as early as next  week. Reports say that the Palestinians are planning on bringing their  resolution condemning settlements to the Security Council in the next  few days.This is a critical junction in the Wild Card campaign (a call for the  U.S. to recognize Palestinian statehood in the summer of 2011).  Palestinians claim it will be hard for the U.S. to veto this resolution  based on official U.S. statements that have already condemned settlement  policy. Moreover, considering the recurring snubs this administration  gets from Jerusalem, one might not be surprised if some in the West Wing  could see this as a chance for some payback.</p>
<p>But of course, the most important aspect of the vote is the policy  aspect: if the U.S. indeed refrains from vetoing the resolution, could  it signal a dramatic shift in White House policy towards the peace  process? Could it serve as an indication towards future voting  intentions, when the Palestinians come again to the UN in the summer to  be formally recognized as a state?</p>
<p>It would be foolish to even hope for a second that Obama has the guts  to support this resolution. But Wild Card supporters should be quite  content with an abstaining vote. Sitting back and doing nothing is  actually the best advice one could give Obama these days.</p>
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<div>In other Wild Card news:Philip C. Wilcox of Foreign Policy thinks <a class="external" href="http://mideast.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/01/05/the_us_should_vote_for_a_un_security_council_resolution_condemning_israeli_settleme" target="_blank">Obama should support</a> the upcoming resolution on settlements:</p>
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<div>The traditional U.S. policy of blocking the U.N. and application of  international law, thus protecting Israel from its own dangerous  policies of occupation, is a dysfunctional anachronism. It does no favor  to Israel, whose future as a Jewish, democratic state is at risk. It  contradicts the Obama administration’s own opposition to settlements,  and it forfeits a useful lever in persuading Israel to change its  policy. Rather than bowing to domestic political pressures, and clinging  to the view that the U.N. and international law have no role to play,  the U.S. should rejoin the virtual international consensus on these  issues, stand up for its own declared interests, and vote for the  proposed Security Council resolution.</div>
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<div>Leading Israeli pundit Zvi Barel is the first top-tier pundit to join the Wild Card campaign, asking the U.S. to <a class="external" href="http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/u-s-needs-peace-more-than-israel-or-palestinians-1.331385" target="_blank">stop asking</a> for settlement freezes:</div>
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<div>“Not a three-month freeze on settlement construction, but rather a  comprehensive plan. Not a puppet show in which Hillary Clinton hosts  Tzipi Livni at the expense of Ehud Barak or Benjamin Netanyahu so they  get the hint, but progress on American recognition of a Palestinian  state.”</div>
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<div>Steven Klein, an editor at the Haaretz English edition <a class="external" href="http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/forget-the-negotiating-table-1.331066" target="_blank">hops on</a> the Wild Card campaign:</div>
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<div>“…If Clinton wants to see the birth of a Palestinian state on her  watch, her best odds lie with rallying the international community  behind recognizing unilateral independence”.</div>
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<div>Benjamin Ben Eliezer, the Industray, Trade and Labour Minister – and also top ranking Labor party official – <a class="external" href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4004405,00.html" target="_blank">hints at possible U.S. intentions</a>. This guy is well connected – does he know something we don’t?</div>
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<blockquote><p>After Ecuador <a class="external" href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4004103,00.html" target="_blank">joined</a> other Latin American countries in recognizing a Palestinian state  within the 1967 borders, Industry, Trade, and Labor Minister Binyamin  Ben-Eliezer warned that<a class="external" href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3284752,00.html" target="_blank">Israel</a> may face harsh ramifications due to the stalled peace process.</p>
<p>“I wouldn’t be surprised if the US will also recognize a Palestinian  state in the coming year, and then we will have to provide explanations  as to how it happened.”</p></blockquote>
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<p>The Brits’ intentions are <a class="external" href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4004905,00.html" target="_blank">just as mysterious</a>…</p>
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<blockquote><p>After  several South American countries recognized an independent Palestinian  state, Britain is now considering upgrading the Palestinian delegation  in London to the status of a diplomatic mission.</p>
<p>The move, which would grant the Palestinian delegation with a status  similar to that of an independent state, will turn the Palestinian  delegates into diplomats for all intents and purposes.”</p></blockquote>
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<p><strong>The Wild Card Campaign</strong></p>
<p><a id="internal-source-marker_0.5015430881176144" href="http://972mag.com/wild-card-u-s-recognition-of-palestinian-declaration-of-independence/">Part I</a> The Wild Card campaign starts with a bang through an op-ed in the Jerusalem Post<br />
<a href="http://972mag.com/the-wild-card-part-ii-abbas-and-kouchner-hint-towards-unilateral-move/">Part II</a> Where French FM and President Abbas hint towards a future Palestinian state<br />
<a href="http://972mag.com/the-wild-card-part-iii-egyptian-fm-joins-the-party/">Part III</a> Egyptian FM joins the party<br />
<a href="http://972mag.com/wild-card-part-iv-nytimes-puts-unilateral-move-on-the-agenda-clinton-takes-it-off/">Part IV</a> The NYTimes puts the Wild Card on the agenda<br />
<a href="http://972mag.com/wild-card-part-v-if-you-cant-beat-em/">Part V</a> The right wingers start to get nervous about unilateralism<br />
<a href="http://972mag.com/israeli-palestinian-talks-officially-dead-time-to-move-on-to-plan-b/">Part VI</a> The peace talks die, a call for Obama to think again about the Wild Card<br />
<a href="http://972mag.com/wild-card-part-vii-eu-sets-the-ground-for-recognition-of-palestine/">Part VII</a> EU sets the ground for recognition of Palestine<br />
<a href="http://972mag.com/wild-card-part-viii-aipac-flexes-its-muscle-who-cares/" target="_blank">Part VIII</a> AIPAC flexes its muscle – but who cares?</p>
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<p><a href="http://972mag.com/wild-card-ix-obama%e2%80%99s-first-litmus-test-just-around-the-corner/">Wild Card IX: Obama’s first litmus test just around the corner</a>.</p>
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