MOSCOW. Dec 30 (Interfax) - The Israeli foreign minister's statement in which he said Israel is not planning to impose sanctions on Palestine in light of its new UN status has been dictated by traditional position of the Israelis not to recognize Palestine's statehood, says Alexei Makarkin, a first vice-president of the Center of Political Technologies.
"Support for the autonomy on the part of the Israelis is not only charity but also a signal of non-recognition of Palestinian statehood. The refusal to provide financial aid would mean Israel's recognition of Palestine's independence. For Israel, a refusal to help Palestine financially is unacceptable for political reasons," Makarkin told Interfax on Friday.
On the whole, the granting of new status to Palestine is significant in that both Palestine and Israel can interpret it in their favor, Makarkin said. "Each party can view it as its own success. The Palestinians have made one more step toward full membership of the UN, while the Israelis can say that the Palestinians have not yet received this status and nobody knows whether they will get it at all," he said.
Israel's skeptical attitude toward Palestinian statehood can well be explained, Makarkin said. "What has happened is the maximum of what the international community can do for [Mahmoud] Abbas now. Several decades passed between Palestine's acquisition of observer status and non-member observer state status," he said.
In addition, internal-Palestinian conflicts are a serious obstacle on the way of full-fledge statehood, Makarkin said. "The situation is very difficult for the PNA head, which is worsened by the conflict with Hamas. They unify from time to time to oppose Israel, but when this opposition becomes irrelevant, the internal Palestinian conflict restarts. It is revealing that a unified government has still not been formed," he said.