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, Govt 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 essential 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 making certain {that a} Palestinian state by no means emerges, each by blocking significant motion from the worldwide group 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 army allies worldwide.
The beneficiaries principally embrace Israel, North Korea, Syria and Myanmar.
Since 1992, in accordance with Wikipedia, Russia has been essentially the most frequent consumer of the veto, adopted by the US and China.
As of March 2024, Russia/USSR has used its veto 128 instances, the US 85 instances, the UK 29 instances, China 19 instances, and France 16 instances. On 26 April 2022, the Common Meeting adopted a decision mandating a debate when a veto is forged within the Safety Council.
Stephen Zunes, professor of Politics and chair of Center Japanese 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, Govt 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 folks.
Washington’s place is morally untenable, based mostly squarely on “may 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 keen to fund Israel’s genocidal warfare on folks 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 prime policymakers within the U.S. govt and legislative branches actually proceed as if Palestinian folks have legit claims on Palestine”.
The tacit U.S. method, he mentioned, is that historical past within the area begins each time handy for the U.S.-Israeli alliance, whether or not in 1948 or 1967 or on Oct. 7, 2023.
There are lots of flaws within the stances and pretensions of members of the Safety Council, whether or not everlasting or rotating. The governments they characterize range 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 forged 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 planet right now”.
Israel is an apartheid state, its occupation of territories since 1967 is totally illegitimate, and its warfare on the folks residing and dying in Gaza is mass homicide, mentioned Solomon, writer of “Struggle Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Army Machine”
In keeping with an April 22 report on Cable Information Community (CNN), Israel’s Overseas Ministry will summon ambassadors from a number of nations later this week to specific its displeasure for his or her assist for Palestinian membership on the UN, Israeli Overseas Minister Israel Katz was quoted as saying.
“The diplomatic push includes nations 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 — should not 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 needs to be ashamed and embarrassed after 12 nations rejected its plea to vote towards 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 through which 5 nations can train veto energy over the affairs of greater than eight billion folks, together with practically two billion Muslims who aren’t represented among the many 5 everlasting members.” CAIR mentioned.
“Nations and folks of the world should push for the UN Safety Council to be both radically reformed or abolished altogether within the years forward.”
In keeping with the UN, States are admitted to UN membership by a call of the 193-member Common Meeting upon the advice of the 15-member Safety Council.
The decision wants a two-thirds majority (presently 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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