The United Nations General Assembly is expected to vote this Thursday on a motion to grant the Palestinians recognition as a non-member observer state. The motion, which carries no binding force as far as actually establishing a state of Palestine but does open up options for the Palestinians to sue Israel in international courts, is expected to pass easily in what has generally been considered a forum overwhelmingly hostile to Israel. The Palestinian gambit has undermined the European Union’s efforts to establish a unified foreign policy, weakened perceptions of global U.S. leadership, and triggered divisions between the U.S. and its allies. Fears that elements of the Palestinian Fatah faction which controls the West Bank will revert to terrorism in the aftermath of a statehood declaration will not be dampened by exhortations from Hamas today to turn the West Bank into a center of operations against Israel.

[Photo: Barry Pousman / Flickr]