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In a development that gave a significant hand up to the Palestinian leadership, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization became the first international body last month to admit Palestine as a full member, despite strong opposition from several member countries.

It was the first reward for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s efforts to secure Palestinian membership in key international organizations.

While the achievement has not changed the reality on the ground, and though the gap between Israelis and Palestinians is wider than ever, the Unesco vote suggests an opportunity for the United Nations to become a positive agent of change in the push to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The United Nations, in charge of protecting human rights and democratic values around the world, is the most appropriate international body to help both sides reach an agreement. A growing role for the United Nations could bring certain advantages that involvement by other actors, such as the Quartet on the Middle East and the United States, cannot.

Even though the United Nations is currently represented within the Quartet (along with the United States, Russia and the European Union), it may be more effective as an independent actor in the peace process. The Quartet — which is currently trying to mediate between Israel and the Palestine — suffers from a lack of trust among the Palestinians, whose officials have said it is failing to bridge the gap between the two sides.

The Quartet’s lack of success may be due to the fact that its members seem to mirror the Israeli-Palestinian dynamic, with half supporting the Palestinian approach and half supporting the Israeli approach. As a result, the Quartet remains divided and ineffective.

Both the United Nations General Assembly and the Security Council may be able to offer a more effective form of involvement with a more representative range of international actors. However, as things stand now, a rift is growing between the Security Council, where the Palestinian membership bid will likely meet a US veto, and the General Assembly, which is much more likely to accept the bid.

Rather than face such an awkward standoff, shouldn’t the two bodies work together to shape a constructive role for themselves in the peace process, a role that is likely to be more dynamic and therefore less likely to end in a deadlock?

The United Nations has a good foundation to build upon, because like many Palestinians and Israelis, it agrees on the principle of a two-state solution. Why not enable it to fulfill its designated role of helping to solve conflicts, protect human rights and safeguard international law?

Despite the price of pursuing greater international involvement — the Unesco vote quickly prompted the Israeli government to announce the construction of 2,000 housing units in the settlements and in East Jerusalem, and to withhold taxes collected for the Palestinian Authority — the strategy is, for many Palestinians, the only hope for generating a process that will eventually end the historical conflict.

Although the United States has condemned Unesco’s move, describing it as a symbolic achievement that brings no concrete gains for either side, there is a role for symbolic achievements in the current conflict, as Israel builds more settlements and the Palestinians move further from the negotiating table. Symbolic achievements keep hope for a solution alive.

From the Palestinian point of view, any action that keeps the two-state solution high on the agenda and puts pressure on both sides to move forward is a welcomed action.

Time is running short, however. The moderate Palestinian leadership is in danger of losing its people’s support for diplomacy if the approach doesn’t quickly bring significant results. Moreover, the region is witnessing tectonic developments as the Arab Spring continues and as tensions escalate between Iran and the West over Iranian ambitions to move forward with its nuclear projects.

Once again, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is in danger of being overshadowed, meaning that both sides could miss an important opportunity to move forward.

Unesco’s recognition of Palestine suggests that many actors in the international community want to push toward a two-state solution.

Now is the time for that community to show that compromise will be necessary to achieve a peaceful resolution to the conflict.

Common Ground News Service

Ziad Khalil Abu Zayyad is a Palestinian blogger and founder of the Middle East Post.