Abbas did not leave any doubt about this in his speech at the body when he said that two states, Israel and Palestine, would exist side by side. This resolution was passed despite nine vetoes (including those of Israel and the US), 41 abstentions and 138 affirmative votes. In simple, 65 years after the UN issued Israel’s birth certificate, the UN on the request of Abbas, issued the birth certificate of the Palestinian state. Thus whether each side accepts the other or not, both have been legally born, regardless of whether they want to be friends or not.
It is noteworthy that Iran was among the countries that voted in favor of the resolution, which recognizes Israel’s existence. Furthermore, as the rotating chairman of the non-aligned movement, Iran also called on other members to vote positively for the resolution, thus accepting the two state solution.
Iran has already recognized Israel
Like every year in the past, the Islamic republic of Iran organized Palestine day on the last Friday of the month of Ramazan. But this year’s Ramazan was different from the past. On the occasion this year Gaza was burning and bloody which gave more reason for celebrating Palestine day across the world to condemn ever more the crimes of Israel.
Despite the condemnation of Israel by many countries and international organizations, the position of the Islamic republic of Iran in condemning Israel is worth noting.
Iran not only condemned Israel’s blatant violence but ayatollah Khamenei also proposed an idea for stopping Israel from coming violence in the future. His suggestion had two points: First, the destruction of Israel, and second, a referendum to determine the kind of a political regime for the region.
He explained, “This violence is the real Zionist regime. And there is no cure other than its ‘destruction.’ But this annihilation in no way means massacring the Jewish people in that region. What ayatollah Khamenei had meant when he had said ‘Israel must be destroyed’ is a human logical idea. We have presented its practical aspect to the world … . We say a referendum should be held by the people who live and belong there. The referendum should determine the kind of regime that should rule the region. People should determine this. This is the meaning of the term Israel should be destroyed.”
According to these words, the physical destruction of Israel and the massacre of Israelis is not being proposed and the fate of the region is left to a referendum by the inhabitants there to determine their political regime.
Now if we compare this position with that of the Palestinian Authority led by Mahmoud Abbas, it becomes clear that the latter has no wish to dismantle the Israeli regime even through a referendum. Since the Palestinian Authority has already recognized the state of Israel its objection is only about Israel’s territorial expansionist policy. Period.
The official position of the PA is that it has retracted any claims to territory prior to 1967 and considers the lands that have been occupied by Israel since 1967 to be Palestinian territory. Even the US has confessed that these lands are occupied.
The Islamic Republic has Recognized Israel
At first glance it may appear that the difference in the position of the Islamic republic (which views the manner of destruction of Israel to be through a referendum) and that of the PA (which views the solution to be a return to the lands prior to 1967 and not the destruction of Israel) is that Tehran views Israel to be a “fake” and “illegitimate” regime and therefore it has never taken any step to recognize it.
But despite the denial and rejection of Israel as a state, I believe that while the Islamic republic has not granted de jure recognition of Israel, it has given de facto recognition of Israel on at least two separate occasions, if not more. First this recognition was made by the supreme leader and the second at the General Assembly of the UN.
Khamenei Has Recognized Israel
It is no secret that resorting to a referendum as a way to destroy Israel is a more conciliatory position of the Islamic republic than its past position of the annihilation of Israel. For example, Ahmadinejad called for the “elimination of Israel from the map of the world.”
The general understanding of that extreme position was that the annihilation of Israel meant the massacre of Israelis which could not be achieved through any means other than nuclear weapons. This issue had created a second line of pressure on Iran in the nuclear standoff to the point that ayatollah Khamenei issued a fatwa banning the development and use of such weapons. Now, through an unpleasant justification, he calls for the destruction of Israel through a referendum.
It should be noted that this very position of refereeing to a referendum implicitly from a legal perspective means recognizing the existing regime, so that it may be altered through a referendum.
What better example for this than the referendum that was held in 1979 to change Iran’s monarchy to an Islamic republic. A referendum to replace an existing political regime with a new regime is an implicit acknowledgement that there is a political regime to be replaced.
So if a referendum is being proposed to determine a new political order in Palestine (a Palestinian regime), this proposition is an unofficial (de facto) acknowledgement of the existence of the current regime, i.e., Israel.
Incidentally, this legal argument has been expressly made by ayatollah Khamenei. He said, “Since 1948 this fake regime was ‘officially’ created and has remained till today.” “For 66 years this Zionist regime has pursued this policy,” he said. He continued, “During these 66 years, Zionists did everything they could as a ‘political regime.’ This (violence) is the reality of the Zionist regime; and it has no cure other than the regime being destroyed.”
Recognition of Israel at the UN
It may be argued that UN’s recognition of Israel, and that of a number of other countries, including the Palestinian Authority does not translate into such a recognition by the Islamic republic of Iran. The Islamic regime has never recognized Israel and as mentioned by Khamenei, “colonialists imposed it on the region.”
This view is flawed because many do not realize that the Islamic republic has de facto recognized Israel with pre-1967 borders and its position is identical to that of the PA, not a word less or more.
This view is based on the fact that on November 29, 2012, precisely on the 65th anniversary of the day when the General Assembly of the UN passed a resolution for the creation of Israel along with Palestine on November 29, 1947 (the very day that Arabs call ‘nekbat’), Mahmoud Abbas, the president of PA on November 29, 2012 passed a resolution the General Assembly according to which the legal status of the PA was elevated to that of a “non-member observer state.”
That resolution accepts the state of Palestine to be limited geographically to the post 1967 lands.
Abbas did not leave any doubt about this in his speech at the body when he said that two states, Israel and Palestine, would exist side by side. This resolution was passed despite nine vetoes (including those of Israel and the US), 41 abstentions and 138 affirmative votes. In simple, 65 years after the UN issued Israel’s birth certificate, the UN on the request of Abbas, issued the birth certificate of the Palestinian state. Thus whether each side accepts the other or not, both have been legally born, regardless of whether they want to be friends or not.
It is noteworthy that Iran was among the countries that voted in favor of the resolution, which recognizes Israel’s existence. Furthermore, as the rotating chairman of the non-aligned movement, Iran also called on other members to vote positively for the resolution, thus accepting the two state solution.
It is interesting to note that HAMAS has objected to Abbas’s action (i.e., two state solution). So the positions of Israel and HAMAS are identical, i.e., opposition to the resolution, with the only difference being that Israel views all of the lands in that region to belong to itself while HAMAS views it to belong to Palestine.
So with a positive vote to that UN resolution, it is clear Iran has sided with PA in recognizing Israel and the two state solution. This means Iran recognizes Israel at its pre-1967 borders, exactly as Abbas has wanted.
So ayatollah Khamenei’s remarks about a referendum to determine the political order of Palestine is first an acknowledgement of the existence of Israel – which should be changed through a referendum, he believes – and second they negate the positive vote that the Islamic republic cast for the resolution that recognizes Israel.
http://www.roozonline.com/english/opinion/opinion-article/archive/2014/july/31/article/the-islamic-republic-of-iran-and-the-recognition-of-israel.html
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