THE PALESTINIAN BID FOR STATEHOOD

The Palestinians have announced plans to seek recognition as a state through a United Nations Security Council resolution, arguing such a vote is the best option due to stalled peace talks with Israel.

The move is opposed by the United States, which has said it will veto any such resolution, and that a two-state solution to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can only be achieved at the negotiating table. Both Israel and the United States have undertaken intensive diplomatic efforts to stave off the Palestinian bid. They contend such a vote will further destabilize the Middle East, which is already reeling from the Arab Awakening.

The Baker Institute’s Conflict Resolution Program has been working for years on the Israeli-Palestinian issue, most recently publishing “Getting to the Territorial Endgame of an Israeli-Palestinian Peace Settlement,” a report that offers concrete recommendations for policymakers on this concern. 

The Baker Institute is providing timely analysis of this developing situation, including what a UN vote on Palestinian statehood might mean for U.S. policymakers.

• Watch a Dec. 10, 2011, interview (video) with Baker Institute founding director Edward P. Djerejian during the IFRI World Policy Conference 2011 about how the Arab Awakening and events in the Middle East will affect Israeli-Palestinian relations.
• On Nov. 2, 2011, the Baker Institute and the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) co-hosted "Twenty Years After Madrid: Lessons Learned and the Way Forward for Arab-Israeli Peacemaking," an all-day conference in Washington, D.C., at the USIP's new facility on the National Mall. The conference featured a video address by former President George H.W. Bush and an opening keynote by former Secretary of State James A. Baker, III. Archived video from the conference is available on the event page. Download a copy of the conference policy report with recommendations stemming from the event here.
  
• Baker Institute founding director Edward P. Djerejian, former U.S. ambassador to Syria and to Israel, observes that the United States has "tactically taken the right course in addressing the political dynamics of change" in the Middle East in this Sept. 22, 2011, Council on Foreign Relations interview, "Assessing U.S. Leadership in Mideast."
• Baker Institute founding director Edward P. Djerejian, former U.S. ambassador to Syria and to Israel, discusses what happens after the UN vote in this Sept. 21, 2011, Houston Chronicle op-ed, “U.S. must live up to role as Mideast honest broker.”
  

• Baker Institute guest lecturer retired Israeli Maj. Gen. Danny Rothschild addresses the obstacles to Middle East peace at the Sept. 19, 2011, event “New Realities in the Broader Middle East” (video).
  
• Baker Institute fellows Samih Al-Abed and Yair Hirschfeld examine prospects for Israeli-Palestinian peace at the May 10, 2011, event “Seeking Peace Between Israel and Palestine: The Way Forward” (video).