A number of Palestinian civil society organizations and networks have released a document that is the result of long discussions regarding possible Palestinian statehood in September 2011. This group of civil society organizations has met with progressive political parties in Palestine and also with the Palestinian human rights council to discuss the Palestinian Authority's (PA) planned request to the UN to ask many countries in Europe and the US to recognize Palestine as a nation.
The paper "Enterprise of Declaring a State" is meant to pose political and legal questions about the establishment of a Palestinian state within 1967 borders. Specifically, it asks directly about the impact of the PA's representation of a Palestinian state and its direct influence on the legitimacy of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), that is the current representative of the Palestinian people and which has already been sucessful in preserving and achieving inalienable Palestinian rights. Also how would this shift towards state representation affect the diaspora both in exile and in historical Palestine, all of whom are now currently recognized and represented by the PLO? On the issue of rights, quoted from the document:
"What would such recognition add to the numerous international resolutions that have already affirmed the Palestinian people's inalienable right to self-determination and to establish their independent, sovereign state with the right to return?"
Rather than express the crisis of failed negotiations and the "internal inability to reconsider the choices of resistance," the document puts the important, strategic questions on the table for internal debate. Stop the Wall is taking the questions that this paper presents for discussion with the people on the grassroots level. Using our popular committee's structure, we will be involving the people in the discussions and debates to be prepared for what can come out of September.
In the document, the role of the international community is addressed "… to request that the international community grant the executive force to be applied; to ensure the promotion of Palestinian inalienable rights and to end the illusion of twenty years of Olso in a new guise." The document can be downloaded here: [Free format] [PDF] [.doc]