Obama’s UN Palestine Speech: So Peace Cannot Come From the UN Then?

Palestinians watched Barack Obama's section of the speech about Palestine en masse and as they listened the U.S. president telling the UN General Assembly that the Palestinians deserve their own state, but that this would only be achieved through talks with Israel, many still wondered why a country that supports change in Syria, Libya and Egypt, still threatens to veto their statehood bid.

Obama, who is now expected to urge Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to give up the initiative told the audience "Peace will not come through statements and resolutions at the UN," he said. "There can be no short cut to peace".

"I am convinced that there is no short cut to the end of a conflict that has endured for decades," Mr Obama told the UN summit in New York.

At the start of his speech however Obama praised the UN and its workers for understanding that "that peace is more than the absence of war. A lasting peace - for nations and individuals - depends upon a sense of justice and opportunity; of dignity and freedom. It depends upon struggle and sacrifice; on compromise, and a sense of common humanity".

Struggle and sacrifice are words that Palestinians feel very close to, and when it comes to justice, compromise, dignity and freedom, it seems that people asking for an internationally recognised state might are also very much concerned by such needs and issues.

Buy asserting that no peace can come out of statements or resolutions at the UN Obama not only denigrated the purpose of the United Nations, which is to ensure, enhance and help preserve peace, but also raises questions with regards to the U.S. and the UN backed NATO operation in Libya. After all, if Gaddafi has been ousted and if, according to the coalition members and the U.S., Libyan can now aspire to a better future, it is because of a UN resolution.

It is uncommon for countries to turn to the UN and ask for sanctions or even draft resolutions when they encounter difficulties with another states, so it seems somehow surprising that now efforts focus on preventing a people from obtaining full membership of an organisation that is supposed to promote peace and ensure they can turn to this same organisation when certain diplomatic or legal problems are encountered.

"The fact is, peace is hard, but our people demand it. Over nearly seven decades, even as the United Nations helped avert a third World War, we still live in a world scarred by conflict and plagued by poverty, " Obama also said.

Surely then, if the UN was able to prevent a third world war it seems contradictory to assure that when it comes to the Israeli/Palestinian conflicts will come from the UN.

Moreover the all initiative is more based on the need for Palestinian to regain some kind of identity and sense of national proud by formally giving their country a state status than anything else.

Peace might not come from the UN statehood bid, and the prospect of Palestine actually having the right to build its own army and refer Israel to the International Criminal Court might be scary, but in term of justice and international law, it would certainly provide Palestinians leaders with a more levelled playing field when it comes to peace negotiations.

"We seek a future where Palestinians live in a sovereign state of their own, with no limit to what they can achieve. There is no question that the Palestinians have seen that vision delayed for too long. And it is precisely because we believe so strongly in the aspirations of the Palestinian people that America has invested so much time and effort in the building of a Palestinian state, and the negotiations that can achieve one."

The problems with the negotiations however is that they have until now failed to lead to durable peace or to a Palestinian state recognised by the UN as such.

While acknowledging the need for a Palestinian state Obama also very clearly reiterated the U.S. commitment to Israel.

"America's commitment to Israel's security is unshakeable, and our friendship with Israel is deep and enduring. And so we believe that any lasting peace must acknowledge the very real security concerns that Israel faces every single day. Let's be honest: Israel is surrounded by neighbours that have waged repeated wars against it. Israel's citizens have been killed by rockets fired at their houses and suicide bombs on their buses. Israel's children come of age knowing that throughout the region, other children are taught to hate them. Israel, a small country of less than eight million people, looks out at a world where leaders of much larger nations threaten to wipe it off of the map. The Jewish people carry the burden of centuries of exile, persecution, and the fresh memory of knowing that six million people were killed simply because of who they were.

"These facts cannot be denied. The Jewish people have forged a successful state in their historic homeland. Israel deserves recognition. It deserves normal relations with its neighbours. And friends of the Palestinians do them no favours by ignoring this truth, just as friends of Israel must recognize the need to pursue a two state solution with a secure Israel next to an independent Palestine."

"That truth - that each side has legitimate aspirations " said Obama, the problem however is that while exposing the pain and sufferance of the Israeli people throughout the years, he failed to provide a balanced picture of the conflict by avoiding to depict the sufferance of the Palestinian people.