UNITED NATIONS, Apr 23 (IPS) – The Biden administration, as soon as once more displayed its political hypocrisy by denying UN membership to Palestine, whereas persevering with to advocate a “two-state’ answer” to the disaster within the Center East.
However one lingering query stays: will the two-state answer include– or exclude– Palestine as a full-fledged UN member state?
Sarah Leah Whitson, Government Director of the Washington-based Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), informed IPS: “That the US has as soon as once more resorted to its well-worn veto to dam Palestine’s UN membership is all it’s worthwhile to find out about why its fake dedication to a ’two-state answer’ is nothing however empty rhetoric”.
The US has been Israel’s primary weapons provider in guaranteeing {that a} Palestinian state by no means emerges, each by blocking significant motion from the worldwide neighborhood and offering Israel with a bottomless arsenal of weapons with which to terrorize Palestinians, she identified.
In the meantime, the denial of UN membership to Palestine additionally underlines the continued abuse of veto powers not solely by the US but in addition China and Russia who use it as a weapon to guard their political and navy allies worldwide.
The beneficiaries largely embrace Israel, North Korea, Syria and Myanmar.
Since 1992, in keeping with Wikipedia, Russia has been probably the most frequent person of the veto, adopted by the US and China.
As of March 2024, Russia/USSR has used its veto 128 occasions, the US 85 occasions, the UK 29 occasions, China 19 occasions, and France 16 occasions. On 26 April 2022, the Common Meeting adopted a decision mandating a debate when a veto is solid within the Safety Council.
Stephen Zunes, professor of Politics and chair of Center Jap Research on the College of San Francisco and who has written extensively on the politics of the Safety Council, informed IPS the US has vetoed at least 45 resolutions essential of Israel, “thereby rendering the Safety Council successfully impotent”.
Norman Solomon, Government Director, Institute for Public Accuracy and Nationwide Director, RootsAction.org informed IPS the U.S. solo veto once more underscored its chosen isolation from world opinion and governmental lineup about Israel and the human rights of Palestinian individuals.
Washington’s place is morally untenable, based mostly squarely on “would possibly makes proper” geopolitics, he mentioned.
Even inside the US, the political tide is shifting away from reflexive assist for Israel, however — rhetoric apart — the White Home stays locked into assist for the Israeli system of apartheid and occupation, whereas a majority of Congress stays prepared to fund Israel’s genocidal struggle on individuals in Gaza, Solomon identified.
“The U.S. authorities doesn’t need Palestine to have a seat on the U.N. desk as a result of the U.S. authorities truly doesn’t acknowledge that such an entity as “Palestine” even exists. Nor do high policymakers within the U.S. government and legislative branches really proceed as if Palestinian individuals have official claims on Palestine”.
The tacit U.S. strategy, he mentioned, is that historical past within the area begins every time handy for the U.S.-Israeli alliance, whether or not in 1948 or 1967 or on Oct. 7, 2023.
There are various flaws within the stances and pretensions of members of the Safety Council, whether or not everlasting or rotating. The governments they characterize fluctuate from having important components of democracy to working as de facto dictatorships.
“But, to a notable diploma and to a large extent, on issues involving Israel and Palestinians, the votes solid on the U.N. in each the Safety Council and the Common Meeting replicate as near a consensus of governments and peoples as exists on the earth right now”.
Israel is an apartheid state, its occupation of territories since 1967 is completely illegitimate, and its struggle on the individuals residing and dying in Gaza is mass homicide, mentioned Solomon, creator of “Struggle Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Navy Machine”
Based on an April 22 report on Cable Information Community (CNN), Israel’s International Ministry will summon ambassadors from a number of international locations later this week to specific its displeasure for his or her assist for Palestinian membership on the UN, Israeli International Minister Israel Katz was quoted as saying.
“The diplomatic push entails international locations which have voted in favor of Palestinian membership within the UN and have ambassadors stationed in Israel, together with France, Ecuador, Japan, Malta, South Korea, Slovenia, China and Russia”.
Algeria, Sierra Leone, Guyana and Mozambique — which additionally supported the proposal — shouldn’t have embassies in Israel, CNN mentioned.
In an announcement final week, the Washington, D.C., based mostly Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) mentioned: “The Biden administration must be ashamed and embarrassed after 12 nations rejected its plea to vote in opposition to membership for the State of Palestine, forcing the US to face alone with one other unjust veto.
“For many years, the UN Safety Council has failed to stop unjust wars and genocide around the globe. The world ought to now not settle for a flawed system wherein 5 nations can train veto energy over the affairs of greater than eight billion individuals, together with almost two billion Muslims who are usually not represented among the many 5 everlasting members.” CAIR mentioned.
“Nations and other people of the world should push for the UN Safety Council to be both radically reformed or abolished altogether within the years forward.”
Based on the UN, States are admitted to UN membership by a choice of the 193-member Common Meeting upon the advice of the 15-member Safety Council.
The decision wants a two-thirds majority (at present 128 votes) within the Common Meeting– and no vetoes within the Safety Council. The State of Palestine was accepted as “a non-member observer state” of the UN Common Meeting in November 2012.
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