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Palestinians expect Irish support for UN recognition

Official arrives in Dublin to lobby government ahead of UN vote

CATHAL DERVAN,

IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Published Tuesday, July 12, 2011, 7:42 AM

Updated Tuesday, July 12, 2011, 7:42 AM

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Nabil Shaath

Photo by Reuters

Palestinians expect Irish support for their application to be recognized as a state at the United Nations in September, according to a senior politician.

Nabil Shaath, a former Palestinian Authority foreign minister, is in Ireland to lobby for support for his people’s bid for statehood.

He told reporters that Palestinians have ‘high expectations’ of official support from Ireland when they present their case to the UN.

“Ireland has been one of the most positive countries in relation to Palestinian rights and the Palestinian cause,” said Shaath in Dublin.

“Therefore the expectations in Palestine about Ireland are much higher.”

The United States has already indicated that it will veto any bid for Palestinian statehood at the UN Security Council.

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To become a member of the UN, Palestine will require a recommendation from the Security Council and approval by two-thirds of the General Assembly.

In light of American opposition, the Palestinians plan to ask the general assembly to accept Palestine as a non-member observer state.

“We may have to start as an observer state, but that is still a state,” Shaath told the Irish Times.

“It would allow us membership of all the UN-related organisations including the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice.

“This would allow us a lot of freedom of action to put pressure on Israel to move towards serious negotiations, leading to an end to occupation and the achievement of a negotiated peace.”

Shaath’s visit to Ireland is part of a concerted plan by Palestinian Authority officials to lobby individual countries to recognise a Palestinian state. He says that almost 120 countries have already done so.

“This is part of a whole plan of non-violent struggle. We are moving to obtain more recognitions, to keep those who already recognise us motivated to vote for us, and to try to persuade other countries to stay neutral and not create obstacles for us,” he added.

Shaath also said that Palestinians are under no illusions as to what a declaration of statehood might lead to.

“Nobody believes that if we get recognition, we will get the Israelis out,” he said. “We have not promised that it will end the occupation. Recognition is useful, it is a process. It is not a one-shot affair.”

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BishopSean | Jul 22, 2011, 03:07 PM EDT

Hi, Seanomelbourne. It might be you are quoting from Human Rights Watch’s Executive Director, Kenneth Roth. He acts as though Judge Richard Goldstone simply backed away from some “particularly controversial charge in the report, as though Goldstone’s reassessment was a minor adjustment. Not so. Goldstone’s own admissions in Washington Post OpEd undermine the 3 main charges the Goldstone Report made against Israel: (1) Israel cannot be trusted to conduct impartial investigations into any alleged misconduct. Goldstone affirms the finds of a follow-up UN enquiry which declared that “Israel has dedicated significant resources to investigate over 400 allegations of operational misconduct in Gaza.” (2) Israel deliberate targeted civilians. He cites evidence that indicates that “civilians were not targeted as a matter of policy.” (3) The vast majority of fatalities were non-combatants. Goldstone now rejects that the majority of fatalities were civilians. US Government was skeptical of Goldstone Report and now UN is too. Hamas lies as a matter of Taqqiya. Regards.

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seanomelbourne | Jul 21, 2011, 08:34 PM EDT

Well Bishop Sean may well you ignore murders commited by the Israeli terrorist state.As for Goldstone he claims he was deliberately take out of context and he did not condemn his report.Why should Hamas lie when there are countless cases of murdered and incarcerated Palestinian children.Your problem is you are reading out of the same hymn book as your terrorist Israeli friends.Shame on you for condoning Isaeli violence against a repressed palestinian people.You can nitpick from this or that report to assuage your condonement of Israeli murders,but the Israeli oppression continues and that is a fact.

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BishopSean | Jul 21, 2011, 10:06 AM EDT

Seeking truth is more important than pointless skeptical debating, Sean. You apparently are "evangelizing" a humanist worldview. But this worldview (in both its forms; modernism and post-modernism) has been proven to be erroneous in its conception and in the enormous and bitter fruits it bears. In contrast, the Judeo-Christian worldview has given us the greatest freedoms, development and prosperity in history. I have answered your objections with specifics--and asked you why we should not believe the testimony of Col. Kemp before UN HRC about morality of Israeli armed forces; why not believe South African Judge Goldstone, when he himself repudiated the UN Report that bears his name once he learned that Hamas deliberately lied to him (practice of Taqqiya); the proven (in court of law) exposure of international press who intentionally aired staged footage of alleged Israeli murder of young Mohamed Al-Durah, only to be exposed that it took place in battle between Palestinian factions. I am willing to continue the dialogue with you, but please do present specifics. Best regards.

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seanomelbourne | Jul 21, 2011, 12:31 AM EDT

Are we debating something here or are you some evangelical missonary.Why not answer the questions below and leave the soapbox out in the garage. I have been there in fact I considered joining the priesthood once and a priest advised me to go home and not be so stupid.

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BishopSean | Jul 20, 2011, 01:27 PM EDT

Hi, Sean. Jesus never killed anyone, or ordered the killing of anyone. Instead He, being totally innocent of any wrongdoing, voluntarily went to imprisonment, humiliation, torture and death for my sins and yours. I expect you to read His Good News, come to know Him as your personal Lord and Saviour. And then know how the power of one person, really committed to Jesus Christ, can make a huge difference in the lives of many in this sinful world of ours. Problem is, most people only know enough of the Gospel to be perfectly miserable. But, "God be praised, He gives us the victory through our Lord, Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, stand firm and immovable and work for the Lord always, work without limit, since you know that in the Lord your labour cannot be lost. (1 Cor. 15:55-58). " You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Blessings!

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seanomelbourne | Jul 19, 2011, 07:51 PM EDT

Bishop Sean do you expect me to have a "Damascus moment" or maybe an Augustinian moment when I approach death "lately have I loved thee Lord". 500 were visited,5,000 were fed by loaves and fishes.Their are millions of children staving in the world today what is your God doing about it?.What do you do with your politicians who send armed soldiers overseas to kill in the name of God and country.If God existed what a wonderful world we would have.

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BishopSean | Jul 19, 2011, 09:31 AM EDT

Jesus lived and died a Jew and He did not rise from the grave as a Roman Catholic or Baptist. But he did rise from the dead and Paul, writing in 1 Corinthians, within 20 years of the resurrection, attested that "over 500 persons at one time were visited by the resurrected Jesus, some of whom have died and others are still alive." Why would Paul have written this if he could be contradicted? What would Paul chose martyrdom (he who was earlier killing Christians), if he knew this was not the truth?

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seanomelbourne | Jul 18, 2011, 08:01 PM EDT

He is entitled to his opinion that does not make him right. I believe that Jesus(historically) lived. For some scribe to write years later that he is god and all that trinitarian stuff is a fairytale manufactured by christians (which Jesus was not)He was born a jew and he died a jew.

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BishopSean | Jul 18, 2011, 09:21 AM EDT

You know, Seán, when brilliant American General Lewis Wallace retired from army, he set about writing a book in novel form to definitively put to an end the myth of Jesus Christ. He researched the matter very seriously for six and a half years.(How many spend 6.5 minutes doing this?) To his own (and everybody else's) surprise, he came to the conclusion that Jesus Christ really lived, died and rose from the dead. His book: BEN HUR. If you seek after truth (God) with all your heart, you will find Him. Regards.

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BishopSean | Jul 18, 2011, 09:15 AM EDT

Hi, Seán. My bible says in Isaiah 40:22 that "Gods sits above the circle (sphere) of the earth," and Jesus says in Luke 17:34-36 that his second coming will happen while some are asleep at night but others are day-time activities in the field--an indication of a rotating earth with day and night at same time. Church Fathers did not hold to flat earth theory, nor did the vast majority of Christians at time of Columbus. Opposite view is an urban legend made fashionable late 19th century.

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seanomelbourne | Jul 17, 2011, 08:40 PM EDT

geosynline is an outdated concept replaced by plate tectonics.exactly my point as I stated below science moves on,maybe you think the earth is still flat or has science debunked the theory. To compare science with som fairytale called the "bible" is silly and belies the fact that you have a university education, but you are gradually moving your mindset with my help .Keep up the good work.

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BishopSean | Jul 16, 2011, 12:17 PM EDT

Hi, Seán, Glad you asked. Biblical predictive prophecies have never been proven false. Natural sciences get things massively wrong sometimes. For instance many leading scientists a century ago taught the universe had no beginning; it was always there. Then later along came Einstein with his Law of General Relativity which along with Clausius’ law of Entropy now convinces everyone the universe had beginning. Bible believers knew this all along. More recently, when I was in university, Geosynclinal Theory was established principle in Geology, favorably compared with Darwin’s theory of Natural Selection. A decade later, it was agreed that geosynclinal theory was completely wrong and was ditched. Science history is filled with such reversals in which confident claims to knowledge suddenly vanish from scientific literature. Science cannot function in a vacuum; It needs a philosophy of science. The Christian worldview has supported scientific growth better than any other, over time. So, this is why it is specious and misleading to compare the Bible with mythology. Regards.

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seanomelbourne | Jul 15, 2011, 09:16 PM EDT

Scientists frequently modifiy their findings as new scientific knowledge comes to hand.The science of the middle ages would no longer stand up to scrutiny, so what's your point.You apprently are caught in a 7,000yr. old time warp.Bishop Usher would be very proud of you.

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BishopSean | Jul 15, 2011, 08:46 AM EDT

Mythology? Bible's standard for supernatural inspiration is 100% fulfilled prophecy. That means no predictive faiures whasoever. Of over 1,000 predictive prophecies in the Bible, 668 already were fulfilled and none has even been proven false. Remaining prophecies focus on events to take place in future. For example, in 700 BC, Isaiah said King Cyrus (I mistakenly wrote Xerxes below) would allow Israelites to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple. But at the time of Isaiah, there was no King Cyrus, the Israelites were in Jerusalem and the temple was intact. In 586, Nabuchadnezzer sacked Jerusalem and destroyed the temple. Then in 539, Persians conquered Babylon and thereafter Israelites allowed to return to Jerusalem by King Cyrus. I know Secular Humanists like to lump the Bible with myth and alchemy, calling only natural science true knowledge--but science has limitations; it has to frequently be modified, and sometimes even reversed. I can cite examples, if you like.

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seanomelbourne | Jul 14, 2011, 07:53 PM EDT

There you go again with yiour brand of mythology and calling it fact.

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