State Department to Israel: Don't scuttle your agreements with the PA

Posted By Josh Rogin Wednesday, August 31, 2011 - 6:47 PM Share

Yesterday, The Cable brought you an exclusive interview with Israel's ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, who said that Israel's agreements with the Palestinian Authority (PA) could be at risk if it goes forward with a vote for unilateral statehood at the United Nations next month.

Today, the State Department responded and urged the Israeli government to honor its agreements with the PA, at least for the time being.

"Yesterday the Israeli ambassador to Washington, Michael Oren, said in an interview that all bilateral agreements between Israel and the Palestinian Authority could become null and void if they establish something called the government of Palestine," The Cable asked State Department spokesman Victoria Nuland at today's briefing. "And he suggested that U.S. agreements, bilateral agreements with the Palestinian Authority, could also become null and void, because they are not made with something called the government of Palestine. Was he accurate?"

"I think the interview was with you, if I'm not wrong there, Mr. Rogin," Nuland quipped, calling out your humble Cable guy for seeking to advance his own story.

Actually, Oren never used the words "null and void," but did say that, "We have a lot of agreements with the Palestinian Authority, we have no agreements with a ‘Government of Palestine," and that Israeli-PA and U.S.-PA agreements could be at risk if the Palestinian leadership moves forward with a U.N. statehood vote.

Nuland's response was, "We take seriously the prior commitments by all sides and we expect the parties to do the same. We will continue to urge both the Palestinians and the Israelis to honor their commitments fully."

Other press corps members tried to press Nuland on how the United States would manage its dealings with the PA if it is recognized as the government of a Palestinian state, but she wouldn't bite.

"We believe that prior commitments need to be respected by both sides and we're making that point," she said. "I'm not going to get into all kinds of hypotheticals and all kinds of crazy scenarios."

Some reporters at the briefing argued that since the PA seems determined to move forward at the United Nations, it's not such a "crazy scenario," but Nuland, eager not to get out ahead of the U.S. diplomacy on the issue, wouldn't budge.

"I'm not prepared to speak about contingency planning one way or the other," she said. "I am simply giving the view of the U.S. administration, which is that we take seriously the prior commitments made by all sides, and we expect them to continue to be met by and honored by all sides."

In the gaggle that follows the briefing each day, a State Department official was asked if the administration was doing everything it could to convince other countries not to support the PA's effort.

"Absolutely," the State Department official said, adding that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has raised the issue in several meetings with world leaders, including Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

EXPLORE:ISRAEL/PALESTINE, STATE DEPARTMENT

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JOHNBOY4546

3:09 AM ET

September 1, 2011

Oren's argument is ludicrous

International law recognizes the concept of "state succession", wherein the successor state automatically inherits the agreements of its predessor.

Or, put another way: unless the successor state publically repudiates an agreement then no material breach of that agreement has occured merely because state succession has taken place.

The Palestinian Authority was **always** intended to be an interim authority i.e. it was **always** intended that the PA would be replaced by something called "the Government of Palestine".

And since that is true then it was **always** intended that the Government of Palestine would inherit all the agreements entered into by the Palestinian Authority.

What Oren is saying is that if that transition from PA to GoP does not take place on terms dictated by Israel then Israel is entitled - ENTITLED, mind you - to do a dummy-spit.

I'll note that this Oren-logic(tm) blows a hole in the Quartet demand that Hamas must accept all prior agreements between Israel and the PA, though I doubt that either Israel or the Quartet is overly concerned about such hypocrisy.

But someone really needs to take Oren aside and whisper this advice to him: Don't Let The Egyptian's Hear About This.

After all, according to Oren-logic(tm) the Israel/Egypt Peace Treaty became null and void the moment that Mubarek's regime was replaced by a military junta.