Columbia International Affairs Online: Policy Briefs

CIAO DATE: 10/2011

The Palestinian Bid for UN Membership: Rationale, Response, Repercussions

Ghaith al-Omari, Amos Yadlin, David Makovsky

September 2011

The Washington Institute for Near East Policy

Abstract

On September 12, 2011, Ghaith al-Omari, Amos Yadlin, and David Makovsky addressed a Policy Forum at The Washington Institute. Mr. al-Omari, executive director of the American Task Force on Palestine, previously served as director of international relations in the Office of the Palestinian President and as advisor to then prime minister Mahmoud Abbas. General Yadlin, the Institute's Kay fellow on Israeli national security, served for more than forty years in the Israel Defense Forces, including the last five as head of defense intelligence. Mr. Makovsky, the Ziegler distinguished fellow and director of the Project on the Middle East Peace Process at the Institute, is author of the new study The Palestinian Bid for UN Membership: Rationale, Response, Repercussions. The following is a rapporteur's summary of their remarks.