Defeat Of Resolution On Palestine Highlights The Real Issue
By Dr. Vivek Kumar Srivastava
02 January, 2015
Countercurrents.org
When Morgenthau stated that universal moral principles can not be applied in the behavior of state and individual morality differs from the morality of the nation state. Perhaps he had in his mind USA, the global leader not only of nation states with much accumulation of power but also r of democratic values, human rights and of the right to self determination, a keystone of US philosophy during the second world war.
These value premises albeit lost their influential colours when USA along with Australia vetoed the resolution in UNO for granting the statehood to Palestine, a demand of many who lived under the discrimination since 1948 when Israel took a final shape, thanks to British policies, in fact the decolonization is still incomplete, its hidden forms and manifestations are now emerging. It is now USA which suppresses the true desires of the people though right to self determination was its chant and remained even today.
The UN Security Council decided to reject a Palestinian resolution brought by Jordan which demanded peace with Israel within a year and an end to Israel's occupation by 2017, resolution also included to make East Jerusalem the capital of Palestine and a settlement of the issue of Palestinian prisoner releases. The resolution also called for negotiations to be based on territorial lines that existed before Israel captured the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in 1967. The resolution may appear highly objectionable to the USA. Israel and their allies. This may appear highly competitive to their national interests.
Here lies the major point and the question of the day. What is the status of Palestine in the present age? Will it ever be able to decide its own destiny in the real terms? What has the world community in real manner done for the people of the Palestine?
One thing needs to be understood that dissatisfaction among the people happens to be the major cause of the revolution in a political system. Aristotle described this the most important factor leading to instability in the regimes. In the contemporary age the nature of dissatisfaction is same but the results are different. These come in the form of violence and terror. Dissatisfaction is a major cause of the proliferation of violence at the global level. Hence the world community as led by USA needs to ponder over and conclude that the right decisions are the need of the hour on the global issues among which the issue of Palestine statehood is the most important. The global dissatisfaction is quite enlarged when the US and its allies take the only narrow view in terms of the theories of Morgenthau. These nation states never care in positive and definite terms to resolve the issue. This is a long story and it still continues.
Since the start UN Security Council Resolution 242, 1967, Resolution 338 (after Yom Kippur war,1973), The Madrid Conference, 1991, Oslo Agreement, 1993, Camp David, 2000, Taba, 2001, Arab Peace Initiative, 2002, The roadmap in 2003 by the four players including the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations,Geneva accord December 2003,Annapolis conference with participants including Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas with US president Bush as a host, Washington talks 2010 initiated by US President Barack Obama with Mr Netanyahu, Mr Abbas, also in presence President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and King Abdullah of Jordan are major actions directed towards Palestine – Israel problem but all these efforts by different groups, nation states have failed or received limited successes because the national interest of Israel remained the dominating force with which USA too associated its national interest, consequently the meaningful decision about the status of the Palestinians remained unattended. The recent resolution need to be looked in this perspective of the dissatisfaction of the people of the Palestinian land and failures of different efforts to resolve the problem with Israel-US national interests.
USA has proclaimed itself a leader of the world and is main architect of the global order since the second world war. Hence it becomes its moral duty to come out from the narrow domain of those national interests which are not its goals but only objective, as these are of short term in nature not the long term and permanent. This realisation must dawn on its policy planners that issue of the Palestine needs to be resolved in earliest manner in order to stablise the Middle East. It must not stick to philosophy of Morgenthau in toto but also look into the ideas of Aristotle about causes of revolution otherwise the world will remain always in tension. It must learn that Peace needs the real efforts. Leadership needs truthful actions not only the rhetoric and demagogues.
The resolution needs to be looked as to why it was brought in UN security council. Why the crises in Middle East are unresolved? World is in a state of crisis. USA, UNO and other nation states need to take prudent decisions based on the global view not on the narrow view. National interests must be tempered with the real solutions. Morgenthau is not always right. Aristotle may also be correct. Resolution of the Palestine problem needs to be resolved earliest and the defeat of the resolution should not be taken as the victory by Israel, USA but they must ponder in realistic terms to unravel the truth why is there so much unrest. A genuine efforts are immediately required by USA and other stakeholders in order to save the people of the Palestine with which many problems of the world are linked to.
Dr. Vivek Kumar Srivastava presently Assistant Professor in CSJM Kanpur University[affiliated college],Vice Chairman CSSP, email: [email protected]
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