To quote Professor Francis R .Boyle......

“On November 15, 1988 the Palestine National Council (P.N.C.) meeting in Algiers proclaimed the Palestinian Declaration of Independence that created the independent state of Palestine. Today the State of Palestine is bilaterally recognized de jure by about 130 states. Palestine has de facto diplomatic recognition from most states of Europe. It was only massive political pressure applied by the U.S. government that prevented European states from according de jure diplomatic recognition to Palestine.

Palestine is a member state of the League of Arab States and of the Organization of Islamic Conference (O.I.C). When the International Court of Justice in The Hague—the World Court of the United Nations System—conducted its legal proceedings on Israel’s apartheid wall on the West Bank, it invited the State of Palestine to participate in the proceedings. In other words, the International Court of Justice recognized the State of Palestine.

Palestine has Observer State Status with the United Nations Organization, and basically all the rights of a U.N. Member State except the right to vote. Effectively, Palestine has de facto U.N. Membership. The only thing keeping Palestine from de jure U.N. Membership is the implicit threat of a veto at the U.N. Security Council by the United States, which is clearly illegal because it would violate a solemn and binding pledge given by the United States not to veto States applying for U.N. Membership. Someday, Palestine shall become a full-fledged U.N. Member State.

The votes are there already in the U.N. General Assembly to admit Palestine pursuant to the terms of its Uniting for Peace Resolution (1950). It is the U.N. General Assembly that admits a Member State, not the Security Council. Obama’s veto at the Security Council can be circumvented by the General Assembly acting under the Uniting for Peace Resolution to admit Palestine as a U.N Member State in September".

So it is the UN General Assembly that determines the Palestinian vote. The weak and subservient USA counts for one vote only.
In September, Palestine can decide on the future of the West Bank

The world will support Palestine

Everything which David Singer wrote was absolutely true. Nothing but the total destruction of Israel will placate the Arabs. Given that fact, Israel should continue to occupy whatever lands it requires to make itself more defensible

To rexw

If Professor Boyle is right and the independent state of Palestine was created on November 15, 1988 can he or you tell me
1. Where are the boundaries of this state?
2. Who controls the land within these boundaries?
3. What is the population of the state covered by these boundaries?
4. Has the Government of this state got the power to enter into agreements with other States?

Palestine was a fiction in 1988 and remains so in 2011.

There is only one way an independent state can be declared in international law and that is if it satisfies the requirements of the Montevideo Convention 1933.

If there are going to be new ground rules to change this long standing Convention then let those who seek to subvert existing international law explain their position.

Vague and empty declarations are a lot of hot air. Any attempt to abandon international law will lead to the breakdown of international norms of behavior.

What the UN General Assembly does or does not do is irrelevant. If it wants to try and admit a fictitious state to membership of the UN it is free to do so.

Such a fiction already exists in FIFA as I have pointed out in an earlier article. It only holds that organization up to contempt.

The UN will suffer the same ridicule if it ignores international law - which it is sworn to uphold.

Only the declaration of a state meeting the requirements of the Montevideo Convention made by the Palestinian Authority or Hamas or whoever seeks to do so can have any validity.

Nothing but the theft of Iranian oil,Afghan lithium drugs,piplines from Trukmenistan will placate Israel and the Western Oligarchs who support it.

The only people for whom the West Bank may be a lost cause may be the current population of disenchanted Israeli Jews.

If the historical goal of the state of Israel is to provide the world’s Jews a secure national home, a place of refugee in a world of mainly imagined and Zionist-constructed anti-Semitism, it seems to have failed because an increasing number of its own Jewish citizens say so.

There have been studies originating both in Israel and abroad that show “as many as half of the Jews living in Israel are considering leaving in the next few years if the current political and social trends continue.” This finding is in addition to the fact that emigration out of Israel, has long been running at higher numbers than immigration into the country. “According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, as of 2005, 650,000 Israelis have left the country for over one year and not returned.” The great majority of these were Jews. In addition, polls show that at least 60% and as high as 80% of remaining Israeli Jews “sympathize with those who leave the country.”

Seems as though many decent Jews are voting with their feet with the current hateful climate created by the Netanyahu government and fanatically supported mainly by those who conveniently do NOT live in Israel.

Those who really want to see the climate inside Israel, read the book by Susan Nathan, ‘The other side of Israel’. Susan is a Jewish lady from the UK who decided to settle in Israel.
It shows in uncomfortable terms what has happened to all the marketing tools that Israel promotes as democratic, fair and decent, all things that have long since been discarded for the Zionist ideals of apartheid, ethnic cleansing and just plain inhumanity to man. This behaviour is accepted as normal in Israel but distinctly repulsive to other human beings with any degree of sensitivity about the treatment of other people.

This is, of course, the reason why the Arab West Bank will not be a ‘lost cause', at least not for Palestinians.

To rexw

Your lengthy post omits to answer the following questions I posed in response to your earlier post:

"If Professor Boyle is right and the independent state of Palestine was created on November 15, 1988 can he or you tell me
1. Where are the boundaries of this state?
2. Who controls the land within these boundaries?
3. What is the population of the state covered by these boundaries?
4. Has the Government of this state got the power to enter into agreements with other States?"

I would appreciate your answers.

Could you also give us the actual sources from which you have quoted excerpts and statistics in your latest post. This is generally accepted as being the appropriate thing to do.

Emigration to other countries is not only happening in Israel. It is a common occurrence everywhere. Certainly the huge outflow of Moslems from Arab countries to the West is a good example.

Has your research found out how many Palestinian Arabs have left the West Bank during the past five years?

The Palestinian Arabs have blown their chances to establish a State in the West Bank

1. In 1937
2. In 1947
3. Between 1948-1967
4. In 2001
5. In 2008

I am afraid that opportunity has passed them by.

They are not prepared to accept less than 100% of the West Bank. This has proved to be - and will continue to be - a recipe for disaster as is
1. their refusal to amend the PLO Covenant to erase the Jew-hating clauses that permeate its pages.
2. their insistence that no Jews living there now will be allowed to remain as citizens of a Palestinian Arab State.