Defense Minister Ehud Barak has left for Washington for high-level meetings ahead of this week’s events, the PA (Palestinian Authority) moving to the United Nations to move ahead with its unilateral declaration of statehood. Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman will be in North America for meetings as well and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is heading to NYC on Tuesday and will address the General Assembly. The prime minister is also scheduled to meet with President Barak Obama.

In a somewhat frivious move, perhaps a compulsory one, members of the UN’s Quartet will be meeting in an urgent session on Sunday, a final effort to bring Israel and the PA back to the negotiating table, a meeting that is clearly nothing more than a media event.

The Quartet consists of the United States, United Nations, European Union and Russia. EU Commissioner of Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton has signaled the EU is yet undecided how it will vote in the UN when the PA presents its bid for statehood.

The PA has signaled it is ignoring American requests and will be moving ahead with its request for statehood in the Security Council. At present, the PA lacks sufficient support, today capable of mustering nine of the fifteen member nations. Even if the PA were to receive a majority the White House has signaled it will veto such a move.

In a last ditch effort to compel the United States to back down, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) released a message to the Americans and a veto of the Palestinian move will eliminate chances for a two-state solution in the future.

Most analysts believe that after this week’s events, the PA will have created facts on the ground and it will become an observer nation in the United Nations.

Back in Israel, Israel Police, the IDF and security and intelligence agencies are preparing for what may be widespread violence in response of the PA’s planned move. Security officers of all communities throughout Yehuda and Shomron have been briefed and first-response teams have taken part in exercises to prepare them for what may become a reality in the coming days. Residents of communities throughout Yehuda and Shomron have been advised to stock up on supplies of basics for a number of days, with security officials indicating if violence does indeed become widespread, deliveries to these areas may be disrupted.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)