RAMALLAH: On Monday, longtime Palestinian Liberation Organization leader and negotiator Hanan Ahsrawi announced that a resolution proposing to upgrade Palestine to an “observer state" was submitted to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Palestinian outlet Ma'an News Agency reported. If the UNGA votes to approve the resolution, Palestine will be able to take Israel to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for a laundry list of international law violations, many of which are related to the ongoing expansion of internationally condemned settlements throughout the occupied West Bank. Palestinian leaders are riding a wave of unity in the wake of an 8 day Israeli military offensive against the Gaza Strip that left over 160 dead and over a thousand injured, many of which were civilians. As Israeli military forces pounded densely populated areas in Gaza, immense protests swallowed the West Bank, many of which included calls for unity between the divided Palestinian leadership. The de facto Hamas government in the Gaza Strip, which opposed the Palestinian Authority's (PA) 2011 UN bid for statehood, has now given its blessing to the resolution and held a solidarity rally in Gaza City on Tuesday. The United States and Israel have both expressed their fervent opposition to any attempts to gain international recognition of Palestine in the UN. In one instance, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman suggested that Israel topple PA President Mahmoud Abbas's Ramallah-based government. Palestinian representatives arrived in New York earlier this week, and the UNGA is expected to vote on the resolution as soon as Thursday.
