By Gilad Atzmon

The Guardian newspaper reported on 27 November that Britain is prepared to back a key vote recognizing Palestinian statehood at the United nations but only if the Palestinian Authority chairman, Mahmoud Abbas, pledges not to pursue Israel for war crimes and to resume peace talks.

According to the newspaper,

On Monday night [26 November], the government signalled it would change track and vote yes if the Palestinians modified their application…

Whitehall officials said the Palestinians were now being asked to refrain from applying for membership of the International Criminal Court or the International Court of Justice, which could both be used to pursue war crimes charges or other legal claims against Israel.

Abbas is also being asked to commit to an immediate resumption of peace talks “without preconditions” with Israel.

The third condition is that the General Assembly’s resolution does not require the UN security council to follow suit.

In other words, in return for Britain supporting the Palestinian bid for statehood at the UN, the Palestinians would have to overlook Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity, and refrain from insisting that Israel stop the ongoing theft of Palestinian lands in the occupied territories by building new Jewish settlements and expanding existing ones, practices that are illegal under international law.

I wonder why the British government is so keen to protect Israeli war criminals? Could it be because 80 per cent of Conservative Party MPs belong to the pro-Israel lobby group, Conservative Friends of Israel?

I’d also like to know what is it that has led the British government to change its position on the Palestinian bid for statehood. Is it because our Tory politicians are trying to squeeze more money from their paymasters? After all, if Whitehall’s decision is driven by ethical and humanist concerns, why then are they trying to save Israeli mass murderers from being schlepped to the International Court of Justice where they belong?

Another possible explanation for the British turnaround is that Israel and its lobby may actually want the world to support the Palestinian bid for statehood at the UN. Such a bid could be the first step towards accomplishing the Zionist aim of removing once and for all the demographic threat to the Jews-only state posed by millions of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.

A “sovereign Palestine” on a fraction of the Palestinian homeland would “liberate” Israel from the burdens of an occupier state.

It is possible that, following the recent Israeli defeat in Gaza, someone in Whitehall cottoned on to the fact that the Jewish state belongs to the past and doesn’t have much of a future. It is possible that they’ve realized that Britain had better seek some new allies in the Arab world.

Still, putting all their money on Abbas might be just one more poorly calculated British political decision.