The State of Palestine?

Well, it's happened. The UN voted overwhelmingly to upgrade Palestine's bid to be considered a non-member observer state.  In a vote, 138-9 with 41 abstentions, Palestine is now recognized by the UN.  And that means they now have access to the International Criminal Court, where they can attempt to bring Israel in answer to charges of war crimes.

War crimes?  Really?  They send rockets into Israel unprovoked, and they want to accuse Israel of war crimes?!  Sigh.

So now the international community has recognized a country (or "country") whose main purpose is to destroy the Jewish state and the Jewish people.  To wipe any sign of the Jew off the map.  Essentially, a world-wide holocaust and ethnic cleansing, if they were to have their way.

Great. 

So what does that mean to the peace process (HA!! What "peace process"?)

Well, in terms of Canada - one of the 9 dissenting votes - Foreign Minister John Baird is recalling all ambassadors to Palestine, Israel and in New York as well as UN envoys - those closest to the issue, back to Ottawa temporarily.  He wants to know what's really happening "on the ground".  And the next question - will Canada stop aid to "Palestine"?

John Baird says that Canada is "considering all available steps" in terms of what has happened at the UN this week. What the Minister calls "utterly regrettable".

And it is regrettable.  Binyamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel has said that in order to move along the peace process (to which, again, I say HA! What "peace process"?) Palestine should not take a shortcut by going to the UN to get statehood recognition.  Unfortunately, that's exactly what they did.  And they won.  Palestinians in Ramallah took to the streets last night in celebration of the results of the vote.

But will this bring Abbas and Netanyahu to the barganing table again?  Will this foster the peace process or instigate further hostilities such as the ones we saw just a couple of weeks ago? 

Jonathan Kay of the National Post feels that going to the UN to get their status updated was a good move for Abbas and the Palestinian Authority.  Sorry, Jonathan, but I'm not sure I agree with you.  I guess time will tell, based on what Palestine does now and in the near future.  After all, once again, they are a nation whose charter calls for the destruction of the Jews and the Jewish State. 

Here's the thing that gets me, religiously speaking.  It is my opinion that the Bible, the Torah and the Koran (and other religious writings) are the interpretations of the person who wrote them.  Therefore, the Christians interpret the Bible one way, the Jews interpret it another way (and call it the Torah, the old testament in Christianity is the same as our 5 books of Moses) and the Muslims interpret it yet another way (and I'm not getting into any other religions, so please don't flame me for not discussing how the Pastatarians interpret it).

I'm seriously considering getting an English copy of the Koran and reading alongside my copy of the Chumash (the 5 books of Moses - the Old Testament - the Torah).  I'm sure I could get it from my library.  It would be interesting to see whether or not our religions are similar in any part.

As a matter of fact, I think that will be my next project - to compare Judaism and Islam, and perhaps Christianity through the Bible.

Sources:
1. http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/11/30/ottawa-to-review-palestinian-aid-after-bairds-strong-rebuke-of-statehood-vote/

2. http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/11/29/canada-considering-all-available-steps-baird-lashes-out-at-un-ahead-of-utterly-regrettable-decision-to-recognize-palestine/