Logo
Contact Newsagent Login
Scoop Search
Articles & Opinions Cook Is Fiji FSM Hawaii Kiribati Marshall Is Nauru New Caledonia Niue NZ
Papua New Guinea Samoa Solomon Is Tahiti Timor Leste Tokelau Tonga Tuvalu Vanuatu West Papua

Palestine Historic Victory: Another Rejection of Occupation

17:23 December 6, 2012Pacific HeadlinesComments Off on Palestine Historic Victory: Another Rejection of Occupation

Column – Franklin Lamb

The United Nations General Assembly vote of 11/29/12, which some in Lebanon’s 12 Palestinian refugee camps are calling a “birth certificate for our country” is the latest of more than 400 UN resolutions on the Question of Palestine and a rare …


Historic Victory for Palestine: Another Rejection of Occupation

Franklin Lamb | Beirut
November 30, 2012

The United Nations General Assembly vote of 11/29/12, which some in Lebanon’s 12 Palestinian refugee camps are calling a “birth certificate for our country” is the latest of more than 400 UN resolutions on the Question of Palestine and a rare major victory for Palestinians after 65 years of resisting occupation.

The UN action, which was backed by an overwhelm majority of UN members with a lopsided vote of 138 to 9, may well force the Zionist regime to seriously consider a just peaceful resolution of the conflict.

With due respect to the nearly 50 percent of the UN members who voted against the historic Palestine Resolution on 11/29/12 at the General Assembly, which is to say the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru ( the world’s smallest republic covering just 8.1 square miles with a population of 9, 378)), and Palau, with its approximately 20,000 inhabitants, all former U.S. Trust Territories and currently “freely associated states” of the United States, with U.S. zip/postal and telephone codes much more closely resembling American states (51st, 52nd, 53rd and 54th) than sovereign countries, the World spoke clearly in favor of Palestinian self-determination. Indeed, the only reason these dissenting four “countries” are UN Members at all is due to cold war era efforts of Washington to stack the General Assembly in its favor by running up the numbers of its safe votes.

Over the past fortnight, as the US and Israel piled layers of threats onto their mantra of derision regarding yesterday’s historic UN vote on Palestine, both countries desperately tried to dissuade the Palestinians from scrapping their application for non-member observer state membership status with the United Nations.

Way too much did Israeli officials and their US lobby protest, thus drawing more international attention and curiosity as they kept dissing the “purely symbolic empty gesture and meaningless act.”

Naftali Bennett, leader of the extremist right-wing national religious Zionist party in Israel, Habayit Hayehudi (“The Jewish Home”) warned the day before the vote that “the PA bid for non-member status at the UN has very real implications on Israel, and that we must take harsh measures in response. I don’t accept the claim that this is a symbolic move,” Bennet told Israel Radio. “This is not symbolic at all. This has very practical implications. “He added: “We must tell the Arabs, if you pursue a unilateral strategy at the UN, We will pursue a unilateral strategy in annexing settlements in the West Bank.”

There is some important symbolism in the UN admitting Palestine as a non-member observer on the 65th anniversary of the November 29, 1947, adoption by the UN General Assembly of the resolution on the partition of Palestine (resolution 181 (II)). On December 2, 1977, it was recorded that the assembly called for the annual observance of November 29 as the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People (A/RES/32/40 B).

Last minute appeals by Secretary of State Hilary Clinton plus a late night pre-vote visit by US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns and Middle East envoy David Hale to the hotel room of the Palestinian Authority hold-over President Mahmoud Abbas failed to convince him to withdraw the resolution and to include the demanded eviscerating codicils.

Secretary of State Clinton could not have been more mistaken as she insisted at her news conference on 11/28/12 that “the only path towards a Palestinian state was through direct negotiations. As I have said many times the only path to a two-state solution that fulfills the aspirations of the Palestinian people is through Jerusalem and Ramallah, not New York.” Few in the state department, according to congressional staff members who liaise with Clinton’s staff, believe that direct negotiations would ever lead to Israel voluntarily rejecting its current apartheid system or that the interminable “peace process” has ever been taken seriously by the Zionist regime and in fact constitute a hoax. In contradistinction, the growing reality in the Middle East and all five continents is the belief that only Resistance, with its scores of forms, will liberate Palestine from Zionist occupation.

Low balling the UN vote…..

Following the 138 to 9 vote, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, intimated, as did the usual Amen chorus of anti-Arab & anti-Islam zealots, from the US Israeli lobby, including the likes of ADL’s Abe Foxman, that” just as predicted, anti-Semitism was lurking behind the lopsided vote” and that it all amounted, in the words of Netanyahu spokesman Mark Regev, “to nothing but cheap political theater that should not come as a surprise to anyone.”

The American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), as it does on any issue involving Palestine and Israel issued Talking Points for members of Congress and other Zionist organizations to be used when communicating with constituents and giving media interviews. AIPAC keeps close track of how many interviews each member gives and how closely they tow the Zionist line so as to help determine how much cash the particular member will receive for re-election as well as other perks.

For this crucial UN vote, the US Zionist lobby used U.S. Senators Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Susan Collins (R-ME) drafted a letter from these AIPAC stalwarts to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas opposing any unilateral attempts by the Palestinian Government to pursue non-member state status at the United Nations General Assembly.

In their letter, the Senators asserted that “Palestinian statehood can only be realized as a result of a broader peace agreement negotiated with the Israelis, not through unilateral measures at the United Nations. Should you decide, however, to bypass direct negotiations and unilaterally seek upgraded status at the UN, we want to again remind you of the potential for significant consequences. As S. Res. 185 notes, any such efforts may cause consequences in regards to U.S. policy and foreign aid.”

AIPAC instructed Congress to make the following points which was included in an “urgent advisory” to every member and many staffers.

1. This UN action won’t lead to peace.
Peace will only occur through direct talks. By refusing to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and seeking recognition of a state at the United Nations, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is damaging U.S. peace efforts. (nothing in this point is accurate)

2. Recognizing a Palestinian state gives legitimacy to Hamas.
The Iranian-backed terrorist group has fired thousands of rockets at Israeli civilians and is sworn to the destruction of the Jewish state. By granting recognition of a state, the international community will reward Hamas for its terrorist actions, rather than condemn them

3. The United States has rejected the Palestinian approach.
President Obama has said that “no vote at the United Nations will ever create an independent Palestinian state” and called the Palestinian efforts at the U.N. a “mistake.”

Other talking points AIPAC told Congress to use include: while Israel Takes Steps for Peace, Palestinians run to UN , Israel Wants Talks; Palestinians Still Refuse, Palestinians Glorify Terrorists by praising the Hamas victory.

What the Zionist leaders of Israel, as they franticly try to intimidate the region by stockpiling American weapons, while grabbing more Palestinian land, fear is that the 11/19/12 UN resolution may be a game changer.

In this they are correct.

The UN action allows the Palestinians to participate in General Assembly debates and de facto grants recognition of Palestinian statehood on the pre-1967 ceasefire lines while re-enforcing the wide international consensus that the pre-1967 lines should form the basis of a permanent peace settlement.

It also opens up the 17 Specialized Agencies of the UN including the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), International Labor Organization (ILO), International Maritime Organization (IMO), International Monetary Fund (IMF), International Telecommunication Union (ITU), United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), Universal Postal Union (UPU), the World Bank Group, World Health Organization, World Trade Organization (WTO), International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) as well as related and comparable organizations.

As noted this week by Al-Haq, the Palestinian human rights organization “ Under such a strengthened position within the international legal system, the State of Palestine will be allowed to formally accede to international human rights instruments and other technical United Nations bodies, thus improving protection of Palestinian rights at the domestic and international level”.

It is also to be expected that Palestinian citizens under brutal Zionist occupation will demand to use their new status to join the International Criminal Court and might press for investigations of Zionist international crimes, crimes against humanity, attempted genocide, and a host of other practices in the occupied territories. Investigating such international crimes and bringing punishment to those convicted is why the ICC was established.

Professor Francis Boyle reminds us that Palestine can also now sue Israel at the International Court of Justice and end the illegal siege of Gaza, and join the Law of the Sea Convention and secure its fair share of the gas fields lying off the Gaza coast with enormous economic benefits. Palestine can also now join the International Civil Aviation Organization and gain sovereignty over its own airspace; join the International Telecommunications Union and gain sovereign legal control over its own airwaves, phone lines and band-widths.

These are just some of the many reason the Obama administration, slavishly joined the Zionist leadership of occupied Palestine to defeat the UN application.

The actions of the Obama Administration and its vehement opposition to the UN vote continues to diminish the relevance of the US in the Middle East as it slides further down the wrong side of history with its client state in tow. Attempting to justify its shameful opposition to the Palestinian diplomatic undertaking in the UN, the Obama administration could only offer a weak brief from the State Department legal department accusing the PLO of acting unilaterally, in breach of signed agreements are simply parroting AIPAC talking points noted above.

Deepening Palestine’s international legal personality within the United Nations system is a legitimate presence on the world stage from which to assert rights guaranteed by fundamental principles of International Law. With more access to the United Nations system, Palestinians have gained a major political and legal framework from which to work and to encourage the international community to comply with its obligation to end Israeli crimes against them and bring Israel’s serious breaches of international law to an end.

ENDS

Content Sourced from scoop.co.nz
Original url

  • Print This Post Print This Post

 

Search Pacific.scoop.co.nz

Pacific Media Centre newsfeed

  • REGION: USP 'epoppers' raise Pacific climate awareness with cellphones
  • REGION: Want to lead in the Pacific? Try listening first
  • Pacific nuclear activist-poet tells stories through culture - and her latest poem
  • AUDIO: PMC's 95bFM radio show hits Chinese 'base' claim, justice and diabetes
  • PMC's Bearing Witness 2018 crew arrive in Fiji ready to roll




  • Pacific Links

    • About Pacific.Scoop
    • AUT's new Pacific journalism course
    • Brown Pages
    • Knowledge Basket Pacific
    • Pacific Cooperation Foundation
    • Pacific Journalism Review
    • Pacific Media Centre – AUT University
    • Pacific Media Watch
    • Pacific Scoop Internship
    • Pasifika Foundation
    • University of the South Pacific
  • Pacific Media

    • Asia-Pacific (Al-Jazeera)
    • BBC’s Asia-Pacific
    • Cook Islands News
    • Fiji Daily Post
    • Fiji Sun
    • Fiji Times
    • Fijilive
    • Hawaiian Independent
    • Islands Business
    • Kiribati Independent
    • La Dépêche de Tahiti
    • Les Nouvelles Calédoniennes
    • Matangi Tonga
    • Māori Television
    • New Dawn FM 95.3
    • NewsWire (Whitireia)
    • Niu FM
    • Oceania Flash
    • Pacific Islands Report
    • Pacific Mini Games newspaper
    • Pacnews
    • PasiMA
    • PIMA
    • PINA
    • PMC on YouTube
    • PNG Post-Courier
    • Radio Australia’s Pacific Beat
    • Radio Djiido
    • Radio Fiji
    • Radio NZ International
    • Radio Rakambia
    • Radio Tarana
    • Radio Waatea
    • Reportage (UTS)
    • Reportage-Enviro
    • Samoa News
    • Samoa Observer
    • Samoalive Newsline
    • Solomon Star
    • Solomon Times
    • Spasifik magazine
    • Sunday Chronicle (PNG)
    • Tagata Pasifika
    • Tahiti Presse
    • Tahiti-Pacifique
    • Te Waha Nui (AUT)
    • The National (PNG)
    • TNews (NZ)
    • Vanuatu Daily Post
    • Xtra media
  • Pasifika Blogs

    • Avaiki Nius
    • Coup Four And A Half
    • Croz Walsh’s Fiji
    • David Robie’s Cafe Pacific
    • Global Voices Online
    • Grubsheet (Graham Davis)
    • Malum Nalu’s PNG
    • Nga Reo Tangata
    • Pacific Eyewitness
    • Pacific Freedom Forum
    • Pacific Media Centre Niusblog
    • Tempo Semanal
    • Whenua Fenua Enua Vanua
  • REGION-WIDE NEWS:

    Pac Scoop VideoPacific Media Centre: YouTube channel's latest videos

    Rainbow Warrior’s ‘last voyage’ to Rongelap left lasting legacy

    Alistar Kata reports for AUT’s Pacific Media Watch project.

    AUT student journalists report Rainbow Warrior special bulletin

    AUT University television and journalism students contribute to special Eyes of Fire microsite.

    • Pacific Headlines

      • Bridging the gap in the world of cocoa
      • USP ‘epoppers’ raise Pacific climate awareness
      • Kurdish refugee filmmaker asks to come to DocEdge Festival
      • Australian researcher faces eye of the storm for science
      • Golden Oldies hockey team takes on the world
      • NZ’s first graduates in Global Humanitarian Engineering
      • Fish friendly guidelines landed
      • UK and New Zealand to increase cooperation in the Pacific
      • UPDATE: Restaurant Brands lifts FY profit 37%
      • Restaurant Brands lifts FY profit 37%
      • Speech: Ardern – Climate change
      • Tomorrow People take ‘BBQ reggae’ on road
      • Finalists Announced for 2018 NZ Children’s Music Awards
      • UNICEF and NZ partnership on Pacific children’s health
      • Tonga PM launches regional strategy for surveying


    MEET THE PMC TEAM

    Introducing some of the faces and projects involved in AUT's Pacific Media Centre. Meet Josephine Latu from Pacific Media Watch, Violet Cho from Irrawaddy magazine, filmmaker Jim Marbrook and TVNZ Tagata Pasifika's John Utanga, director David Robie and others. About Pacific Scoop. – PMC

    Toktok - Feedback

    • Sickputer: "...contamination also flows f...
    • Linda Ballou: I am happy to see the cloak an...
    • PS: So. the US fleet will be fishi...
    • Alofa Tautogia: I think in the future wen stoc...
    • John Monro: I can't be anything like as en...
    • Andrew Johnson: There is no lack of trust, the...
    • Bo Lagerqvit: According to the Royal Swedish...
    • Putra Pihakunu: Thank you. God bless you all f...
    • Will Ilolahia: VakaWhenua disaster houses are...
    • George: There is a very widespread per...

    Categories

    • American Samoa
    • Asia-Pacific Journalism
    • Australia
    • Columns
    • Cook Is
    • Fiji
      • Fiji Elections 2014
    • Frontpage
    • FSM
    • Guam
    • Hawaii
    • Insert Block
    • Kiribati
    • Marshall Is
    • Nauru
    • New Caledonia
    • Niue
    • Northern Marianas
    • NZ
    • Opinions
    • Pacific Headlines
    • Pacific Islands Forum
    • Pacific Press Releases
    • Palau
    • Papua New Guinea
    • RMI
    • Samoa
    • Solomon Is
    • Tahiti
    • Timor-Leste
    • Tokelau
    • Tonga
    • Tuvalu
    • Uncategorized
    • Vanuatu
    • West Papua

    Monthly Archives

    • April 2018
    • March 2018
    • February 2018
    • January 2018
    • December 2017
    • November 2017
    • October 2017
    • September 2017
    • August 2017
    • July 2017
    • June 2017
    • May 2017
    • April 2017
    • March 2017
    • February 2017
    • January 2017
    • December 2016
    • November 2016
    • October 2016
    • September 2016
    • August 2016
    • July 2016
    • June 2016
    • May 2016
    • April 2016
    • March 2016
    • February 2016
    • January 2016
    • December 2015
    • November 2015
    • October 2015
    • September 2015
    • August 2015
    • July 2015
    • June 2015
    • May 2015
    • April 2015
    • March 2015
    • February 2015
    • January 2015
    • December 2014
    • November 2014
    • October 2014
    • September 2014
    • August 2014
    • July 2014
    • June 2014
    • May 2014
    • April 2014
    • March 2014
    • February 2014
    • January 2014
    • December 2013
    • November 2013
    • October 2013
    • September 2013
    • August 2013
    • July 2013
    • June 2013
    • May 2013
    • April 2013
    • March 2013
    • February 2013
    • January 2013
    • December 2012
    • November 2012
    • October 2012
    • September 2012
    • August 2012
    • July 2012
    • June 2012
    • May 2012
    • April 2012
    • March 2012
    • February 2012
    • January 2012
    • December 2011
    • November 2011
    • October 2011
    • September 2011
    • August 2011
    • July 2011
    • June 2011
    • May 2011
    • April 2011
    • March 2011
    • February 2011
    • January 2011
    • December 2010
    • November 2010
    • October 2010
    • September 2010
    • August 2010
    • July 2010
    • June 2010
    • May 2010
    • April 2010
    • March 2010
    • February 2010
    • January 2010
    • December 2009
    • November 2009
    • October 2009
    • September 2009
    • August 2009
    • July 2009
    • June 2009

    Recently on Scoop

    • Military and media missiles
    • Urban sprawl eating up NZ's productive land - report
    • Fair Enough? - Tax HiveMind Midpoint Update
    • The present day composer refuses to die – NZSO plays Zappa
    • MFAT used Thompson + Clark for security at TPP protest
    • On Thompson+ Clark, and Russia’s FIFA World Cup
    • Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr
    • No Flies in Syria
    • NZ losing 192 million tonnes of soil every year
    • The Daphne Project: New Zealand still a haven for some?

    Feeds

    • RSS Posts
    • RSS Comments
    Disclaimer
    All content is the work of the specific authors, journalists and researchers and not statements of opinion from AUT University.


    All editorial and news content is produced under the principles of Creative Commons. Permission to republish with attribution may be obtained from the Pacific Media Centre - pmc@aut.ac.nz

    Pacific.scoop.co.nz © 2018 | Powered by Scoop Media