A
Palestinian Miracle At The UN?
By Ramzy Baroud
13 August, 2007
Countercurrents.org
Since
the foundation of the United Nations' Security Council, the Palestinians
did not manage to have any kind of sway that would allow them to block
or amend a proposed resolution in any meaningful way.
But miracles do indeed happen,
as, for the first time, and after days of intense lobbying, a Palestinian
delegation recently killed a draft resolution. Not only this, it also
managed to block a presidential statement which is usually made when
a resolution is buried, by way of explaining the circumstances behind
its rejection.
But this 'miracle' has a
bizarre twist. The resolution, drafted by Qatar and seconded by Indonesia,
was merely expressing concern over the humanitarian disaster intensifying
in the Gaza Strip and the deteriorating plight of one and a half million
Palestinians dwelling, or more accurately, imprisoned there, lacking
all imaginable necessities — electricity, fuel, clean water, food
and medicine.
One would typically expect
it to be Israel dispatching its delegations to the UN, armed with every
possible pretext to deny Palestinians even the smallest window of opportunity
to argue for their concerns — such as protection for refugees,
humanitarian aid, or investigations into massacres.
Historically, support for
Palestine remained high in the general assembly, despite Israel's strategic
development and detonement of anti-Semitic politics to intimidate member
states. Not surprisingly, it was in the security council that Israel
invested most of its energy, with US and Israeli ambassadors to the
UN working diligently to block any SC resolution by buying the support
of veto and rotating non-veto wielding members, or by bullying the daring
few to withdraw their support for any particular draft.
More often than not, the
US would insist on re-drafting a resolution before putting it to the
vote.
If this did not work, a US
veto was guaranteed. In recent years, starting with Madeleine Albright
(later Bill Clinton's Secretary of State) to John Negroponte (later
US Ambassador to Iraq and now Deputy Secretary of State) to the present
Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad (former US Ambassador to Iraq), the US anti-Palestinian
stance has hardened beyond any possibility of compromise.
It was Negroponte who brazenly
declared in 2002 that the US would veto any resolution regarding Israel
that fails to condemn Palestinians.
In other words, Israel could
get away with murder without any objection from the council.
Consequently, Palestinians
fought with all of their might, with the help of various Arab ambassadors
and other representatives to tip the balance in their favour, but to
no avail. As long as the US remained at the helm of this undeniably
corrupt arrangement, Palestine remained powerless to secure any tangible
international support.
Keeping such a legacy in
mind, it came as an unparalleled shock to learn of the double 'successes'
of the Palestinian delegation to the UN on July 30, with, first, Qatar
pulling out its resolution regarding Palestine, and second, the UNSC's
presidency refraining from issuing a statement to explain what went
wrong.
Qatar's hope had been to
support starving Palestinians in Gaza and win some international sympathy
on their behalf, which might embarrass Israel into allowing some urgent
supplies into Gaza.
A few months ago, one would
have thought such an event to be simply impossible: A Palestinian delegation,
lobbying tirelessly at the UN to block a UN call for helping half of
the Palestinian population living in complete isolation and facing ceaseless
Israeli attacks in the occupied territories.
What could possibly justify
such cruelty? To ensure that Hamas' isolation is complete? To deny the
'Islamists' of Gaza the opportunity to score a point against the 'secularists'
of Ramallah, thus to operate for a few more months before the mass starvation
kicks in? Even these pitiful excuses no longer suffice.
However, the Palestinian
Ambassador to the UN, Riyad Mansour, tried his best to justify the scandal
on the basis that "it is unacceptable for anyone, including friends,
to act on our behalf without our knowledge no one should take such initiatives
without consulting us."
I wonder if Mr Mansour worried
himself too much about the plight of Wael Abu Warda, 27, who died on
August 4 from Kidney failure while waiting at Erez crossing, separating
Gaza from Israel, or the many such individuals who die everyday in Gaza's
rundown hospitals?
Moreover, were the immediate
needs of Gaza and its largely unemployed and malnourished population
part of the Palestinian agenda when Condoleezza Rice visited Ramallah
and met with Mahmoud Abbas, his Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and his
14-member cabinet? Or did the $80 million Framework Agreement —
a US reward to Abbas for following the American script to the letter
— set aside a tiny amount for milk, fuel and perhaps couple of
dialysis machines for those suffering in Gaza?
Back to the Palestinian 'success'
at the UN, the miracle was of course no miracle at all; Palestinians
had clearly utilised the same mechanism that Israel had used for years
to block the mere possibility of bringing attention to the plight of
Gaza. One hates to invoke the proverbial idea of Palestinians being
their own worst enemy, but very few terms can describe the unfolding
travesty, compounded by the fact that the Zionist lobby at the US Congress
is now actively lobbying on behalf of Abbas.
$80 million seems too cheap
a price for selling out one's own people.
But considering the extreme
circumstances, in the eyes of some, the price is just right.
Ramzy Baroud is
a Palestinian-American author and editor of PalestineChronicle.com.
His work has been published in numerous newspapers and journals worldwide.
His latest book is The Second Palestinian Intifada: A Chronicle of a
People's Struggle (Pluto Press, London). Read more about him on his
website: ramzybaroud.net
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