Al-Shabaka Policy Advisor Victor Kattan quoted in Time on the Palestinian Authority's attempt to become a UN member state.

Having almost killed off the two-state solution, Israel has left no option other than the South African model of a secular, democratic state in which all citizens are equal under the law

The Palestinian ambition of becoming a full member-state of the United Nations is approaching a crucial moment.

The Flotilla is not transforming Israel's siege into a kinder, gentler blockade. Rather, it is to deliver this question: By what right does Israel besiege Gaza? The answer is : None, under international law.

Israel's threat to deny visitors entry to Palestine is as disturbing as it is shocking.

The PLO already declared the independence of Palestine in 1988. This already proclaimed state of Palestine did not and does not enjoy sovereignty, jurisdiction or control over the territory it claims.

The option of going to the U.N. in the fall to seek recognition of a Palestinian state is a measure of last resort that will be pursued only if negotiations fail.

Not a single regime in the entire world is immune to collapse when the right time comes.

In the six months since Mohammed Bouazizi immolated himself and set an entire region alight, analysts and observers have swung from issuing death certificates for the established Arab order to concluding that it has managed to withstand the challenge of mass insurrection. Both judgements are premature, and neither is correct. The fundamental reality that is all too often overlooked is that the Arab Spring is a dynamic process, rather than a single season.

The real challenge is to speak, and to do so from a position of principle that is applied without distinction and increasingly without fear of those in power.