FACT SHEET: PALESTINIAN UNILATERAL DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE (UDI)

FACT SHEET: PALESTINIAN UNILATERAL DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE (UDI)

Israelis and many Palestinians long for peaceful coexistence, but Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas’ unilateral plan to ask the UN to recognize a Palestinian state on the 1949 armistice lines (UDI) will undermine hopes for peace and establish dangerous international precedents. A durable peace can emerge only through direct negotiations, not unilateral declarations. Since fall 2010, President Abbas has refused to resume direct negotiations with Israel and has actively abandoned negotiations altogether. Instead, he has asked other nations to recognize an independent Palestinian state with borders on the 1949 armistice lines. In September 2011, he plans to bring the demand for UDI to the UN.

International Positions on UDI

U.S. officials and Congress have denounced UDI. In a unanimously approved resolution, the U.S. House of Representatives underscored that “true and lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians can only be achieved through direct negotiations between the parties” and urged other nations to reject the Palestinians’ appeal.¹

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said on January 19, 2011, “We're working to keep the focus where we think it needs to be [direct negotiations] and that is not in New York.”²

Key European countries, such as Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, the Baltic states, and other eastern European nations also oppose UDI.³