the.armchair.politician

The United Nations General Assembly has overwhelmingly passed a resolution urging an immediate end to all acts of violence by Israelis and Palestinians. (Sources: BBC World and Haaretz).

The resolution calls for an immediate end of Israeli incursions in Gaza and Palestinian rocket fire into Israel. It also calls for an immediate investigation into the recent Beit Hanun shelling, where a few misfired shells killed 19 Palestinians, to be set up by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. The investigation is likely to be headed by former US president Jimmy Carter. There is no mention of the Hamas-led abduction of Israeli corporal Gilad Shalit.

This resolution was presented to a vote in an emergency session of the General Assembly called by Qatar and passed by 156-7 with 6 abstentions. Voting “no” were the United States, Israel, Australia, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru and Palau. Abstaining were Canada, Ivory Coast, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

All this reminds me of a famous quote by Abba Eban, Israel’s first ambassador to the UN: “If Algeria introduced a resolution declaring that the earth was flat and that Israel had flattened it, it would pass by a vote of 164 to 13 with 26 abstentions.” As usual, Eban wasn’t that far off from the truth.

I have to say that this not entirely horrid news for Israel. I remember the days when only the United States, Israel and Micronesia voted against blatantly anti-Israeli resolutions (I still have a shirt I bought in Jerusalem with the text “We’ll Always Have Micronesia”). Having 4 more allies is a good thing. Of course, with respect, Palau and the Marshall Islands vote blindly with the US while Nauru votes along with Australia, but it’s certainly very nice to have Australia’s support. Canada also hasn’t always been a staunch supporter of Israel, so their abstention is noted.

What’s disappointing is that the entire European Union voted in favor of the biased resolution. While this doesn’t surprise me from nations such as France and Belgium, I expected more from the UK and Germany. While the EU-states did manage to remove some of the harsh language of the resolution, it is far from what one could call a ‘balanced resolution’.

Since General Assembly resolutions are not binding, Israel is widely expected not to pay much attention to it. Still, it does little to improve Israeli faith in the United Nations. Then again, Israel has never had any faith in the UN, as evidenced by the words of Israel’s first Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion: “Um, Shmum” (translating roughly into “UN, ShmUN”).

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations Dan Gillerman walked out of the session in protest, calling the proceedings a “circus” and a “humiliation and cynical exploitation of the UN”. His deputy noted that the resolution equated terrorism with “the action taken by Israel in self-defense in fighting terrorism”.

The US ambassador to the UN John Bolton called the resolution unhelpful “Unfortunately this type of resolution serves only to exacerbate tensions by serving the interests of elements hostile to Israel’s inalienable and recognized right to exist,” he said and added that it might lead some to conclude that the UN is incapable of playing a helpful role in the region.

I continue to be amazed by Israel’s tenacity in remaining a member of the UN. Israel is as of yet the only member of the United Nations that cannot sit on the Security Council or any other committees, it has to frequently deal with lopsided resolutions and is still expected to pay arrears.

There is much left to say about Israel and the United Nations and I plan to start a series on it shortly. Watch this space!

Tags:bolton, gaza, hamas, israel, palestinians, resolution, un united nations

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