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The Watcher’s Council

UN Security Council

The Council has spoken, the votes have been cast and the results are in for this week’s Watcher’s Council match-up.

This week, we were treated to an interesting spectacle.

Every EU country except the Czech Republic either voted for or abstained from voting against the recognition of ‘Palestine’ as a a state, something that essentially gutted the international treaties of the Oslo Accords and the Road Map. A day or so later, these same countries were calling Israel’s ambassadors on the carpet and accusing them of ‘jeopardizing the two state solution’ because they decided to build some badly needed housing on a vacant hillside!

As this week’s winner, Joshuapundit’s ‘Palestine’ – A Celebration At The Funeral points out, the celebration over the recognition of ‘Palestine’ is not a new beginning, but a wake. Here’s a slice:

The UN has finally taken the step of openly endorsing ‘Palestine’. In response to the PLO’s request, the General Assembly issued Resolution 67/19, giving ‘Palestine’ observer status, which means it is a non-voting member who can join other international bodies like UNICEF or the International Criminal Court.

Prior to the vote, Mahmoud Abbas made a typical speech in which he accused Israel of racism numerous times. Coming from the lips of a man whose thesis at Moscow University denied that the Holocaust occurred, this added yet another touch of comedy to the proceedings.

There was never any doubt about the outcome. Given the 51 nation OIC Muslim bloc, those nations like France, Sweden and others with a restive Muslim population and those they were able to influence, Abbas was certain to get what he asked for. The UN General Assembly could probably be relied on to pass a resolution saying Jews had horns on their heads with a decent majority.

What the UN did, essentially, was to flush two international treaties, the Oslo Accords and The Road Map down the toilet, as if they never existed. The resolution unilaterally grants Abbas and the PLO statehood status and ‘the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and to independence in their State of Palestine on the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967′ ( never mind that there was no ‘Palestinian territory’ at that time) ‘including East Jerusalem’ without any pretense of negotiating anything whatsoever. No surprises there, since that’s been the PLO’s real position all along.

Even more farcically, the resolution calls for ‘the urgent need for the resumption and acceleration of negotiations within the Middle East peace process.’

After what the UN General Assembly claims it granted to the PLO in this resolution, why would they suppose there’s anything left to negotiate? Who makes the best felafel? And why would the Israelis even bother, seeing how the PLO and the so-called international community regards treaties and agreements when it concerns Jews and Israel?

Speaking of which, to those of you whom celebrate it, Hanukkah begins this Saturday night, right after the Jewish Sabbath… take time to celebrate and remember that Israel and the Jewish people have triumphed over much greater odds in the past before. Ma’ale Adumim, after all, is not so far from Modi’in, where a group of Jewish farmers decided that enough was enough and their G-d and their freedom weren’t negotiable anymore… Chag Hanukkah Sameach.

In our non-Council category, the winner was Victor Davis Hanson with Waiting for the GOP’s Populist Turn submitted by Joshuapundit. In it VDH examines the next direction for the GOP to go to reclaim its popularity. Unfortunately, given the Republican establishment’s current war on conservatives and anyone associated with the Tea Party, it’s beginning to look more and more like that new direction of conservative populism might end up coming from a third party.

Okay, here are this week’s full results:

Council Winners

• *First place with 4 votes! – Joshuapundit – ‘Palestine’ – A Celebration At The Funeral
• Second place *t* with 1 2/3 votes – The Right Planet – Obama Admin Refuses to Criticize Egypt’s New Constitution That Allows Slavery
• Second place *t* with 1 2/3 votes – Bookworm Room – From the same people who brought you the constitutional right to privacy: “You have no privacy.”
• Third place *t* with 1 vote – The Independent Sentinel – Dear Sarah Palin – Is A Third Political Party Being Formed?
• Third place *t* with 1 vote – The Mellow Jihadi – Self-Reliance Versus the Collective
• Third place *t* with 1 vote – The Razor – Why I Oppose the Nomination of Susan Rice to Secretary of State (and You Should Too)
• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Noisy Room – Policing the Schutzstaffel
• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Gay Patriot – Cut off* NPR & PBS in return for higher tax rate on “wealthy”?
• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Glittering Eye – The Chicken Game
• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Political Commentator – Obama first-term critique! Failure, failure, failure…!
• Fifth place *t* with 1/3 vote – The Colossus of Rhodey – Why I *still* don’t watch Sunday Night Football
• Fifth place *t* with 1/3 vote – Simply Jews – The phantoms of ceasefire, proportionality and other Middle East myths – Part I

Non-Council Winners

• *First place with 2 2/3 votes! – Victor Davis Hanson – Waiting for the GOP’s Populist Turn submitted by Joshuapundit
• Second place with 2 votes – Sultan Knish – The Working Class and the Governing Class submitted by The Noisy Room
• Third place *t* with 1 2/3 votes – Melanie Phillips – Sanitising Hamas in the worship of power submitted by The Watcher
• Third place *t* with 1 2/3 votes – The Big Pharaoh – Is The US Repeating The Same Mistake In Egypt? submitted by Simply Jews
• Fourth place with 1 1/3 vote – TownHall – 7 Reasons Socialism Will Make You Poorer Than Capitalism submitted by The Mellow Jihadi
• Fifth place *t* with 1 vote – Dennis Prager – The World’s Most Dynamic Religion submitted by Bookworm Room
• Fifth place *t* with 1 vote – Taki’s Magazine – Happy to Be on the Wrong Side of History submitted by The Right Planet
• Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Killer Apps – France joins the stealth drone club submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD
• Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Dr. Housing Bubble – Is the middle class dream an illusion for Californians? What we can learn from domestic and foreign migration patterns. submitted by The Glittering Eye
• Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote – RedState – Self-Awareness Matters submitted by Rhymes With Right
• Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Seraphic Secret – The Drones Done Did It submitted by The Watcher
• Seventh place *t* with 1/3 vote – The Lid – Fiscal Cliff UPDATE: Obama Rejects GOP Counter-offer submitted by The Independent Sentinel
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote -Timothy Wheeler @ The Corner – The Wickedness Inside All of Us? submitted by The Colossus of Rhodey
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote – Sunshine State Sarah – Rubio-sponsored amendment to protect military voting rights passes unanimously submitted by VA Right!

See you next week! Don’t forget to tune in on Monday AM for this week’s Watcher’s Forum, as the Council and their invited guests take apart one of the provocative issues of the day and weigh in… don’t you dare miss it. And don’t forget to like us on Facebook and follow us Twitter… ’cause we’re cool like that!