Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has today submitted his bid to the UN for full recognition of a Palestinian state with its capital in East Jerusalem. He later addressed the general assembly of the UN to make his case for Palestinian recognition as a sovereign state with UN membership.

Political Background

Mr Abbas presented a letter requesting full membership of the United Nations to the Secretary General Ban Ki-moon earlier today at the United Nations in New York. He then addressed the United Nations General Assembly today to passionately argue the case for full Palestinian statehood.
Israel and the US oppose it, saying a Palestinian state can only be achieved through direct talks with Israel.

President Barack Obama has already made clear to Mr Abbas that the US will use its UN Security Council veto to block the move if necessary, but Mr Abbas vowed to press ahead with the bid.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told President Obama that American opposition to the application is a badge of honour. With a re-election campaign to fight, Mr Obama needs the votes of Israel's supporters in the US. But, in a year of great change in the Arab world - which the Americans have praised - it is politically embarrassing abroad for President Obama to be seen to be trying to block the Palestinian application.

If Mr Ban decides the application is in order, the Security Council will examine it and vote on it. In order to pass, it would need the backing of nine out of 15 council members, with no vetoes from the permanent members.

A Security Council vote could take weeks to come about and the US may not even need to exercise its veto - Washington and Israel have been lobbying council members to either vote against the Palestinian plan or abstain.

But the Palestinians' application has given them some political initiative, putting their case for independence back on the international agenda in a much more urgent way than it was before. Overall this this seems a clever strategy by Mr Abass to put the fate of the occupied territory back on the political landscape.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has urged a compromise, suggesting the General Assembly give the Palestinians enhanced status as a non-member state to allow a clear timeline for talks - a month to start negotiations, six months to deal with borders and security and a year to finalise a "definitive agreement".

A vote on enhanced status - enjoyed by others such as the Vatican - would not require a Security Council recommendation but a simple majority in the General Assembly, where no veto is possible.

The Astrology of Palestine

Palestine-1948 chart

One approach is to work with a chart for the formation of both Israel and an independent Palestine from 1948. While the Israeli declaration of independence is well known to date from May 14th 1948 it is less well known that The Arab League declared the creation of a unified state of Palestine (incorporating modern Israel) on May 15th 1948 as the Armies of Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq invaded the territories of the new state of Israel.

In an official cablegram from the Arab League to the UN General Secretary on May 15, 1948, the Arab states officially declared the formation of a "United State of Palestine" in the place of the two-state concept created by the UN settlement. This occurred just as the neighbouring Arab countries sent their forces into Israel-Palestine with the United Kingdom mandate officially ending at midnight on May 15, 1948,

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jso ... asion.html

It therefore seems plausible to examine this as a significant chart for Palestinian nationhood. This means the chart for the establishment of Palestine occurred shortly after the State of Israel. The two charts are therefore very similar. The time difference means that the house structure is different from the Israeli chart even though all of the planets are in the same signs. The original Arab League declaration came from Cairo in Egypt and . However the chart could equally be relocated for Jerusalem which has always been the desired capital of the Palestinians. This changes the angles about 4 degrees forward from that of Cairo.

Here is the 1948 Chart for the state of Palestine:
I think it will be instructive to examine the chart for the state of Israel:
NB: The exact timing of the chart for Israel varies from 4.00pm on May 14th 1948 to 4.37pm. This can give either a Libra or Scorpio rising chart. I use the latter and consider the Scorpio rising chart more accurate for several reasons. The basis for using the 16:37 time is sourced from the book ?Mundane Astrology? by Michael Baigent, Nicholas Campion and Charles Harvey. Their version of the key meeting of Israeli leaders on May 14th was that the Jewish leader and first Israeli Prime Minister Ben-Gurion concluded reading a two page independence proclamation by stating ?The state of Israel has arisen!?. This was timed for 4.37pm.

The Scorpio rising chart for Israel puts the Aquarius rising chart of Palestine in a whole sign square relationship. That seems more appropriate than the trine formed by the Libra rising chart. Clearly the ASC ruler for the Israel chart (Mars) is in better shape than the detrimented Saturn in Leo ruling the Palestinian chart. The Israeli Mars is out of sect but it falls in the 10th conjunct Mercury and Jupiter and is on the royal fixed star Regulus.

The frustration of the Palestinians passionate desire for a separate state is possibly reflected here as well as the willingness to resort to violence or extreme measures to achieve the desired result against their enemies (Saturn detrimented in the 7th). There is also a sense in which their opponents have power over their self expression since the ASC ruler is disposited by the ruler of the 7th house (the Sun)

PLO Chart-1964

With the absence of a Palestinian state the Palestinian populace increasingly sought a political outlet. The political party Fatah which continues to form the largest grouping in the later Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) was formed in 1959. Unfortunately, the dating is completely obscure. However, we do have a date for the Palestinian Liberation Organisation which first met in Cairo on May 28th 1964.
Here is a chart timed for noon:
Although speculative the noon chart seems to work well in comparison to the Israel national chart. The MC is on the Israeli Sun and the ASC on the Israeli Mars. The PLO Mars squares the Israeli Saturn. Perhaps worthy of a movement long aligned to violent terrorist actions the Mars is detrimented in Taurus. The PLO Mercury squares the Israeli Pluto.


Palestinian Declaration of Independence (1988)

In 1988, the Palestinian National Council, meeting in Algiers, adopted the Palestinian Declaration of Independence. This occurred on November 15th 1988 , at 1.38am , local time when Yasir Arafat finished reading the official declaration of independence creating the new state of Palestine.

The declaration was later endorsed by an overwhelming majority of the United Nations General Assembly. It also led to the recognition of ?Palestine? by well over 100 countries. Recently, several Latin American countries (Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Uruguay and Paraguay) have joined the list of countries which had already recognized ?Palestine??.

Here is the chart:
Not surprisingly there are clear frictions between this chart and the one for the state of Israel. The Suns are in opposition. The Palestinian Mars is Sq the Israeli Venus. The Palestinian Pluto is on the Israeli SN while the Palestinian Pluto in Scorpio squares the Israeli Pluto. The Palestinian Lot of Fortune on the Israeli Uranus.

The Palestinian Authority (1994)

Eventually Arafat and the PLO pursued a strategy of negotiating a peace deal with Israel. The final outcome of this process was the formation of The Palestinian Authority (PA). The Palestinian Authority ( it later titled itself the Palestinian National Authority) is an interim administrative body established in 1994 in accordance with the Gaza-Jericho Agreement after the Oslo Accords to assume the responsibilities of the Israeli military administration in populated Palestinian centers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip until final status negotiations with Israel were concluded. The administrative responsibilities accorded to the PNA are limited to civil matters and internal security and do not include external security or foreign affairs. Palestinians in the diaspora and inside Israel do not vote in elections for the offices of the Palestinian Authority.

Here is the chart for the creation of the Palestinian National Authority timed for the conclusion of the Gaza-Jericho Agreement.
As of 2011, more than sixteen years following the formulation of the PNA, a final status has yet to be reached.

Continuing disagreements remain on the issue of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and most acutely in East Jerusalem. On the Israeli side the main issues raised are security concerns regarding its borders. Israel cannot easily forget the attacks from its Arab neighbours.

There is also undeniably an element in Israeli society that regards the retention of East Jerusalem (occupied following the 1967 war) as non-negotiable as it contains the western or wailing wall the holiest site in Judaism. Indeed the current basic law of Israel states:

''Jerusalem, complete and united, is the capital of Israel.''

http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/19 ... Israel.htm

Hamas-The Islamic Resistance Movement

Another factor which has undoubtably made Israeli-Palestinian agreement more difficult is the increasing influence of the movement known as Hamas.

The rise of Hamas as a rival militant voice of Palestinian independence has challenged the old Fatah-PLO role as the political expression of Palestinian desire for a separate state. The tensions between Hamas and Fatah began to rise in 2005 after the death of longtime PLO leader Yasser Arafat, who died on November 11, 2004, and intensified after Hamas won the elections of 2006.

The stronghold of Hamas is the Gaza strip and tensions with Fatah eventually led to open violence and the so called battle of Gaza in 2007 which resulted in Fatah being forcibly driven out of Gaza. A mirror like expulsion of many Hamas supporters from the West Bank subsequently followed. The split left Hamas in control of the Gaza Strip, and the Palestinian Authority, dominated by Fatah, in the West Bank. The two territories are separated by Israel, further deepening the divide between two groups.

The two groups are fundamentally different in outlook. The PLO is a coalition of several groups with its largest group Fatah a left wing, secular political movement influenced by socialism. Hamas on the other hand is a militant Islamic group which in its constitution is committed to the destruction of the state of Israel and ongoing violent Jihad until the former territory of Palestine (pre-1948 borders) is exclusively Islamic.

Here is an untimed chart for Hamas:
Hamas was founded on 14 December 1987 by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, a few days after the beginning of the first Palestinian intifada (uprising). Hamas (aka Islamic resistance movement) was founded in Gaza as a Palestinian offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Again its interesting to compare the chart to that of the state of Israel. The Hamas Mars and Pluto are on the Israeli South Node while the Hamas Saturn, and Sun opposes the Israeli Uranus. The Hamas Venus is square the Israeli Sun.

Although the charts for the PLO and Hamas are both untimed they are still interesting to compare. Here they are as a bi-wheel with the PLO in the inner wheel and Hamas on the outer-wheel.
The Hamas Mars opposes the PLO Mars and is conjunct the PLO Neptune. The Hamas Saturn and Uranus is on the PLO Moon. The Hamas Neptune opposes the PLO Venus. The Hamas Moon also appears to be square the both the Venus and Nodal axis of the PLO chart.

It was probably more due to pragmatism and realpolitik rather than anything else that saw these two very divergent visions of Palestinian statehood reach a unity agreement on April 27th this year. The rival Palestinian groups reached an agreement on reuniting their governments in the West Bank and Gaza after years of bitter infighting that weakened them politically and caused the deaths of hundreds in violent clashes and crackdowns since.

The plan, brokered by Egypt, created a single caretaker government which is administering the day-to-day business until new presidential and legislative elections are to be held in 2012. Both Palestinian groups claim both Gaza and the entire West Bank territories for a future independent state, along with east Jerusalem.

Its perhaps in this context that we need to see the strategy of Mahmoud Abbas to apply for UN membership while he is still in power. With elections pending in 6 months he needed to meet Hamas criticisms that Fatah were too passive. Plus the recent Arab spring has shown the mood in the Arab world for democracy and freedom. Abbas has adopted a clever strategy which brings Palestinian national sovereignty to the fore on the world stage without resorting to the violent strategy of Hamas.

Mark

Just as a postscript to the Israeli chart I note some eye witness accounts give a time of 16:32 rather than 16:37 for the end of the the independence ceremony and Ben-Gurion declaring the state of Israel created.

http://info.jpost.com/1998/Supplements/Jubilee/2.html

Many websites cite 16:00 as the time for the national chart. I seriously question this. The 16:00 time listed by Nicholas Campion represents the beginning of the ceremony before Ben-Gurion read out the proclamation and those present signed the document. I therefore dont regard it as a sensible time to date the national chart from.

If we take the 14:32 time as very close we have a choice as the rising degree changed from Libra to Scorpio in that very minute! Unfortunately, there were no astrologers present to record the seconds! Moreover, this was an era before digital watches so the time could be out a few seconds or even a minute on someones wrist watch.

Based on the historical sources then the evidence seems to support a very late Libra rising or very early Scorpio rising chart.

As I mentioned earlier I support the latter. Israel has spent much of its history either fighting existential wars for its survival or in conflict with the Palestinians, Lebanese etc. Israel's extremely close relationship with the USA is explained astrologically by the fact that both governments have a Scorpio rising charts. In the case of the USA I refer to both the Federal government chart and foundational ingress chart for 1789.

The Israeli military success (often against the odds) seems much better represented by an uncompromising Mars in Leo (on Regulus) than a Venus in Cancer. The country has also experienced terrorism on a scale unknown in most of the developed west. In response it has developed formidable systems and techniques that allow the nation to cope with terrorism. Israel has in fact grown to become the fourth largest arms exporter in the world. It has also developed one of the world's most respected and feared secret intelligence services in the world (Mossad). Politically decreed assassnations of the nations opponents (ex-Nazis or Palestinian extremists) have been a matter of state policy for decades. Israel is the only country in the middle east with nuclear weapons. All of this strongly hints at a strong Scorpio influence.

It also seems appropriate that Venus rules the 7th house representing Israels neighbours and open enemies. Venus is the planet associated with Islam in traditional astrology.

I could go on but I think you get the picture of my take on why I think the Israeli national chart should be Scorpio rather than Libra rising.

Mark

Just an update to this thread......

At 16.59 hours EST (21.59 GMT) Nov 29 2012 Palestine was granted membership to the United Nations as a non-member observer state. The General Assembly voted 138 yes to 9 against, with 41 countries abstaining. (Source Ed Tamplin)

This gives Palestine similar status to the Vatican and Switzerland at the UN.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-13701636

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/11/28/world ... index.html

Although one has to question which Palestine are we discussing?

A nation seeking a two nation solution based on co-existence with Israel or a nation seeking to destroy the state of Israel and incorporate it into a 'greater Palestine'?

While recognition by the UN has been sought by the Fatah controlled administration based in the West Bank the Hamas led administration in Gaza has rejected the resolution since it posits acceptance of the state of Israel. The Islamic fundamentalist administration in Gaza does not recognize the state of Israel and seeks 'a one state solution' which is the establishment of an Arab Palestinian state throughout the borders of modern Israel. In other words the destruction of the state of Israel.

http://blogs.jpost.com/content/hamas-re ... an-state-2

Even amongst moderate Palestinians who countenance co-existence with an Israeli state many seek a return to borders envisioned by the UN in 1948 not the pre-1967 borders:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree ... status-quo

Mark

hi mark,

it sounds as though a few charts are in operation.. it is interesting to think of israel and palestines fate being linked like twins in the 1948 chart.. that actually makes a certain degree of sense to me..

Mark wrote: Although one has to question which Palestine are we discussing?

A nation seeking a two nation solution based on co-existence with Israel or a nation seeking to destroy the state of Israel and incorporate it into a 'greater Palestine'?

Mark

i think the same could be said for israel seeking to destroy any possibility of palestine's existence given their actions (not words) on the ground.. i don't want to turn this into a conversation on politics, only note the complete denial via israels ongoing actions for any state of palestine to be allowed, or only on israels terms..

you might enjoy marjorie orrs views on which chart to use for palestine, along with some ongoing comments from her.
http://www.star4cast.com/index2f.asp?pa ... e.asp?id=1

James_M wrote:

I think the same could be said for israel seeking to destroy any possibility of palestine's existence given their actions (not words) on the ground.. i don't want to turn this into a conversation on politics, only note the complete denial via israels ongoing actions for any state of Palestine to be allowed, or only on israels terms..

The loss of life of innocent men, women and children is clearly tragic. No one with a heart wants to see this kind of thing happen. Unfortunately, there is a seemingly endless cycle of violent cause and effect going on here. Politically I therefore think it is over simplistic to regard the Palestinians as simply a wronged innocent party here. Hamas is recognised as a terrorist organisation by most governments for good reason. Hamas has used far more than words to attack Israel long before the recent crisis. Israel had to literally build a wall to stop an influx of hundreds of Hamas suicide bombers entering Israel from Gaza. The actions of Hamas did a lot to turn off many Israeli's that land for peace was ever a viable proposition with this kind of Palestinian Jihadist politics.

Of course the blame game could take us back decades or even centuries.

I assume you are referring to Israel's actions in the West Bank? Certainly, the continued growth of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and the discriminatory treatment of Palestinians on land and water use there threatens the practical possibility of a viable Palestinian state. Current plans for expansion would effectively separate the Arab controlled areas of the West Bank. Moreover, the Obama administration ( like its predecessors) doesn't seem to have the political will to exert strong pressure on Israel to stop the settlement building programme. This could be done by threatening budget cuts if building continued but the Jewish lobby still seems to have a disproportionate influence on US politics. The annual military aid to Israel alone from the US amounts to over $3 billion dollars.

Unfortunately, with groups like Hamas in control in Gaza and a right wing Israeli Prime Minister like Benjamin Netanyahu the prospects for a negotiated solution look nil at present. I doubt a two state solution will ever be viable myself with the advance of settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. There are now over 600,000 Israels in these areas. No Israeli leader is going to be able to put the clock back to pre-1967 boundaries. Call me a total utopian if you like but I ultimately think the only peaceful solution would be the creation of a federal, democratic, secular state called Israel-Palestine incorporating Israel, The West Bank and Gaza. This article shows the idea is not just a loopy idiosyncracy of mine.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/george-bi ... 16120.html

Anyway, this is a real political hot potato that tends to polarise people so I best drop the political discussion here and get back to some astrology.

Mark