Conflicts in the Middle East: United Nations Security Council

Showing posts with label United Nations Security Council. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 27

Netanyahu in Vengeance Mode

The 15 members of the UN Security Council had voted. 14 countries voted for Resolution 2334 condemning the settlements and their expansion while the US abstained, allowing the resolution to be passed.

PM Netayahu in "vengeance mode"

The reaction of PM Benjamin Netanyahu was hysterical, vengeful, lacking in logic, and unnecessary. He is behaving like a spoilt child who did not get what he wanted - the US veto on the resolution.

Netanyahu and his team had lobbied the members of the Security Council, many of whom are close friends of Israel, not to support the resolution but failed. He is unable to come to terms with the fact that the world does not support the building of settlements in the occupied territories nor their expansion. THIS RESOLUTION IS NOT AGAINST ISRAEL as Netanyahu is trying to convey to the Israeli public in order to woo the extreme right into his camp from Naftali Bennett’s extreme right wing Bayit Hayehudi Party. Apart from that, building settlements contravenes International Law and the Fourth Geneva Convention.

Israel does not accept this.

Israel has built 145official settlements and about 100 unofficial settlement “outposts” and permitted 560,000 Jewish citizens to move to East Jerusalem and the West Bank (as of early 2013). [1]1

Even the Israeli Supreme Court accepts that settlement building and expansion in occupied territory is illegal. This is the reason why the Amona settlement is destined to be disbanded by an Israeli Court decision.

Netanyahu is calling in ambassadors of the various countries for a reprimand. Jerusalem. (CNN) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu summoned the US ambassador and launched a scathing attack Sunday on the Obama administration after its refusal to veto a UN Security Council resolution condemning Israel's settlements in the West Bank. [1] He is also threatening Senegal with sanctions. Poor Senegal! I guess paranoiac Bibi feels that Senegal is a threat to Israel’s existence. He behaves as if the world wants to destroy Israel and he is firing from every corner like a spoilt child who does not get what he wants.

East Jerusalem and with it all the holy sites including the holiest Jewish site - the Western Wall - is also considered occupied territory according to International Law. Ouch! This is a problem and a real hot potato. Perhaps East Jerusalem should have been given special status allowing free access to all faiths to pray at their respective holy sites unhindered under international control rather than Israeli control until such time as East Jerusalem’s final status is resolved by negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. Both the EU and the UN, even though they still refer to the Corpus Separatum Plan, speak about an Occupied East Jerusalem and envision a two-state-solution with East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian State and West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. [2]

Meanwhile Netanyahu’s paranoid, hysterical ranting and raving against the UN Security Council members will strengthen BDS as well as the Palestinian standpoint and this could also ignite more terrorist acts against Israel.

There is really nothing new in Resolution 2334. It has been the US standpoint for many years. In fact, this resolution has also condemned Palestinian violence and rhetoric against Israel as well as Palestinian terrorist activity. (See link to Resolution 2334 at the beginning of this post)

Under the present circumstances, there does not seem to be any light at the end of the long tunnel of intransigence as far as negotiations between the two parties are concerned. While there is a total stalemate between the two parties to negotiate a settlement in order to arrive at the Two State solution, the status quo will continue. While Israel faces constant terror attacks from the Palestinians, including lone wolf stabbing, car ramming and general suicide terror, there is no way that Israel will ever withdraw from the territories and leave a vacuum as the US did in Iraq in 2003 after the demise of Saddam Hussein. This resulted in ISIS terror all over the Middle East. If an highly unlikely unilateral withdrawal from the West Bank and the uprooting of illegal settlements occurs there would be chaos and bloodshed that Hamas and its Jihadist allies would initiate against Jews and non-Muslims. The scenario will be a nightmare!

There is nothing that could be an alternative to direct negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians to end the conflict as well as the occupation.

The vengeful mode of PM Netanyahu will not solve anything. His only hope to maintain this mode is to wait until President-Elect Donald Trump takes over from President Back Obama on 20th January 2017 in the hope that he and his team will propose a resolution cancelling Resolution 2334. The chance of this happening is very remote.

1. http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/25/politics/israel-un-settlements-netanyahu-ambassadors/. Accessed 27 Dec. 2016.

2 http://www.kas.de/palaestinensische-gebiete/en/pages/11509/. Accessed 27 Dec. 2016

Saturday, December 24

Outgoing President Obama's "Parting Shot" at Israel

On 23rd December 2016, fourteen members of the UN Security Council voted against the Israel’s settlement policies.

A U.N. Security Council vote to condemn Israeli settlement construction in areas Palestinians want for an independent state was delayed Thursday, hours after President-elect Donald Trump, several other prominent Republicans and Israel slammed the motion and called on the Obama administration to veto it. [1]

The U.N. Security Council on Friday passed a resolution demanding that Israel cease Jewish settlement activity on Palestinian territory in a unanimous vote that passed when the United States abstained rather than using its veto as it has reliably done in the past.[2]

On Friday, in a dramatic departure from longstanding US practice, Barack Obama's government stepped aside and allowed the UN Security Council to censure Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem as a violation of international law.[3]

The international community considers the establishment of Israeli settlements in the Israeli-occupied territories illegal under international law.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5] Israel maintains that they are consistent with international law^[6] because it does not agree that the Fourth Geneva Convention applies to the territories occupied in the 1967 Six-Day War.^[7] The United Nations Security Council, the United Nations General Assembly, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the International Court of Justice and the High Contracting Parties to the Convention have all affirmed that the Fourth Geneva Convention does apply.^[8]^[9]

The passing of this resolution was a great disappointment for PM Benjamin Netanyahu and his team. They seem to take for granted that the US will automatically veto any anti- Israel resolutions drawn up in the UNSC. This time it just did not happen.

Many Israeli pundits view this as a “parting shot of vengeance” against Israel from outgoing President Barack Obama, whose dislike for PM Benjamin Netanyahu is no secret. All those who PM Netanyahu had regarded as close friends of Israel in the Security Council supported the anti-settlement resolution, which they viewed as a large obstacle to the Two-State Solution. Israel will re-assess its ties with the United Nations following the adoption by the Security Council of a resolution demanding an end to Israeli settlement building, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday [4]. The fact that the Jewish settlements in the West Bank are expanding as well as the establishment of new settlements is destroying the Two-State Solution. This is what the Security Council members believe. This reflects the worldview on the Two-State Solution.

Having mentioned this, we must bear in mind that while this is true, and it was not in Israel’s long term interests to encourage Jewish settlements in Palestinian areas occupied soon after the Six Day War of June !967. It was a war that was thrust onto Israel by Egypt, Jordan and Syria with the objective of destroying Israel. It was not a war against the occupation as there was no occupation. They regarded Israel’s establishment as the occupation since 1948. The memories of UN Security Council members are short and possibly non-existent. Israel’s biggest mistake in the aftermath of the Six Day War was the encouragement of settlements in the areas occupied. The neighboring Arab States never, recognized Israel’s right to exist and this had nothing to do with the occupation of territory after the war. Perhaps Israel should have declared the areas occupied after the war a closed military zone (and not an area for Jewish settlement) for the purpose of using these occupied areas as a bargaining chip for negotiations for peace and recognition of Israel’s right to exist leading up to a peace treaty. However the Arab countries were never prepared to recognize Israel’s right to exist whether they had occupied territory or not as was proved in the years from 1948 until June 1967.

The biggest problem for Israel is an existential one and this has been the case since its establishment in 1948. Now that facts have been created on the ground and there are over 400 000 settlers, many of whom are second and third generation Israelis who have grown up in the occupied territories and forcing them to move out is just not a practical option. How can it be achieved, especially when there are no partners and the peace process has become moribund? The scenario for an end to the the occupation without peace partners and with Hamas, ISIS and Jihadist extremists on Israel’s doorstep coupled with the general instability and slaughter in Syria and Lebanon..We all wish that the occupation would end. The occupation is unacceptable morally. Unfortunately, the reality is different and if the occupation goes, the alternative for both Israel and the Palestinians will be far worse. The conflict has become more radical and the element of religion has become part of the conflict which is not only a dispute over land. We must also take into account the various players, including the Islamist terrorist groups such as Hamas, ISIS (Daesh), Salafis, Islamic Jihad and others. The right wing Jewish terrorist movements are also a factor that cannot be overlooked. This resolution that was passed on 23rd December 2016 by an overwhelming vote in the UNSC is not a realistic resolution and under the present circumstances is not feasible. Boycotting Israeli settlements in the occupied territories will not change the situation on the ground for the better as Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, especially the former by their own admittance, want to see Israel destroyed.

The basic thinking of the Security Council members in supporting a Two State Solution is morally justifiable but it is not practical for the reasons mentioned in this article. The big question is how to negotiate the end of the occupation and with whom. Unfortunately as circumstances are today nobody - certainly not the US and the UNSC members, have any answers or solutions. This resolution against the settlements in the occupied territories is an exercise in futility and naivety and will achieve nothing apart from elevating the ego of the Palestinian Leadership against Israel.

1. 23 Dec. 2016, http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/dec/22/trump-netanyahu-press-obama-to-veto-uns-jewish-set/. Accessed 24 Dec. 2016.

2. 23 Dec. 2016, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-declines-to-veto-un-security-council-resolution-for-israel-to-stop-jewish-settlement-activity/2016/12/23/cd4efe72-c939-11e6-bf4b-2c064d32a4bf_story.html. Accessed 24 Dec. 2016.

3. 24 Dec. 2016, http://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/2057042/israel-irate-after-un-security-council-condemns-illegal. Accessed 24 Dec. 2016.

4.24 Dec. 2016, http://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-palestinians-un-idUSKBN14C1IV. Accessed 24 Dec. 2016.