[wvns] Ramzy Baroud: Palestinian Miracle At The UN?
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.
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