The European Union on Wednesday rejected an effort to declare its support for Palestinian statehood outside the contours of bilateral Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, a decision that marked a setback for upcoming efforts by Ramallah to secure a United Nations Security Council resolution supporting unilateral moves toward statehood. State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki on Wednesday restated the American position that the U.S. “would not support unilateral actions … that would predetermine the outcome of negotiations” between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

Palestinian moves to boost their diplomatic status outside of negotiations with Israel, which violate, among other things, its Oslo Accord obligations – the specific commitment is to refrain from “steps that will change the status of the West Bank… pending the outcome of the permanent status negotiations” – risk triggering U.S. legislation that conditions assistance on the Palestinians meeting treaty obligations banning unilateralism. Broad Palestinian failures to establish robust domestic institutions have long plagued efforts to achieve statehood.

The Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority, based in the West Bank, has failed to secure political legitimacy, with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the tenth year of the four-year term to which he was elected. The PA has failed to achieve economic stability and has failed to establish sovereignty over the territory it declares as Palestinian, with the opposing Fatah and Hamas factions in control of the West Bank and Gaza Strip respectively.

[Photo: U.S. Department of State / YouTube]