Way to go . . .

Two other South American nations, Paraguay and Uruguay said recognition would come in 2011, while recognition from Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Cuba came during the 1980s.

Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth made the latest announcement on Friday, saying the move comes as a "push for Palestinians and Israelis to negotiate a peace deal. "

Guyana informed the Palestinian foreign ministry, which issued a letter saying the country hoped that recognition of a Palestinian state would "contribute to a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the creation of lasting peace and stability in the region. "

Both Israel and the United States have condemned the series of recognitions, saying that a negotiated peace is the only way forward.

The European Union said it would recognize a Palestinian state at the "appropriate" time.

Jog my memory but did the Palestinian people not opt for HAMAS over the PA? 

The PA's ultimate act of resistance

The PA should disband, but only as part of a resistance strategy that starts with ending cooperation with Israel.

In interviews and statements, as well as in private meetings, Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, has said that he is presiding over an authority without any authority and that the very existence of the Palestinian Authority (PA) has made Israel's occupation "the cheapest ever".

Abbas is simply reaching the same conclusion that many Palestinians have long understood: negotiations, under the prevailing conditions, will not lead to the end of the Israeli occupation, let alone the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.

In a recent interview with Palestinian state television, Abbas warned that if all efforts to establish a Palestinian state fail he will dissolve the PA and ask Israel to assume responsibility for the occupation. His threats are neither a manoeuvre nor a clearly planned strategy. They are rather an expression of despair and a reflection of the mood of the Palestinian people - who see the PA as merely facilitating the continuation of the Israeli occupation while removing the need for it to pay for its actions.

(...)

Palestinian authorities on Thursday protested the resolution passed by the US congress on Wednesday condemning movement toward a unilateral declaration by Palestinians of a Palestinian state. The congressional resolution was actually fairly weak, showing the tensions between the US and the far rightwing government of Binyamin Netanyahu, since it did call for the establishment of a democratic Palestinian state, something Netanyahu privately opposes. Still, as usual, the US Congress is an outlier in world affairs on the Palestine issue, typically adopting stances that are often to the right of Israel’s own more liberal parties. Even Israeli military personnel have complained bitterly about having been dragooned into being a harsh occupying force in the West Bank. And, of course, the US Congress is increasingly irrelevant, since it is implicitly abetting Israeli footdragging and continued illegal colonization of the West Bank.

The Congressional resolution came as a result of lobbying by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, an umbrella group that directs PAC money to congressional campaigns and has been known to viciously punish any congressman who defies it by throwing money instead to his or her opponent in the next election. Since the constituents of most congressmen don’t really care what happens in the Mideast, many just take the money and sign the AIPAC-crafted resolution. This AIPAC move comes in response to the Palestine Authority’s own internationalization of its diplomatic push on the Netanyahu government to move forward in good faith with the implementation of the Oslo peace accords, which were signed by Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and which envisaged Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza and the establishment of a Palestinian state. Netanyahu condemned Rabin’s signing of those accords, pledged to derail them, and has spent his political career ever since playing spoiler and ensuring that Palestinians continue to live under occupation or blockade and to have blighted lives. Netanyahu’s constituents include Israelis eager to foster colonies on Palestinian territory, either for religious or economic reasons.

The other side of the coin came Thursday when it was announced that Norway has upgraded the representation of the Palestine Authority in Oslo to that of an embassy, more or less declaring Palestine a state in the eyes of the Norwegian government. That is, the PA representative in Oslo is now categorized as an ambassador. Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere announced at a meeting with Palestine Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayad, “We should all cling to the vision of 2011 being the year when we can see a new state on the world stage: the Palestinian state.” Stoere stressed the need for improvements in Palestine Authority security forces and procedures, educational infrastructure, and in governance: “For that to happen, institutions need to be solid, governance needs to be transparent, security, schools, all these elements need to come in place.”

Norway’s action came after Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay finally joined about 100 other nations that have, over the years, recognized a Palestinian state within 1967 borders. The Palestine Authority is encouraging this move to international recognition, as a bargaining ploy with the Israeli authorities. Recognition by Norway, Brazil and Argentina is practically fairly useless as long as the brutal Israeli military occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, and the Israeli strangulation of the Gaza economy via illegal blockade, continues. (...)