The Veto of Shame
So Obama threatened to use a veto against the state of Palestine. This does not impress Mahmoud Abbas much, who does not despair when it comes to Palestine obtaining admission to the U.N. He also managed to have the support of several nations in Africa, Asia and the Americas for this measure. It’s time for the U.N., which decided to split Palestine into two states exactly 64 years ago, to finally come to realize a wait that has lasted for decades: the creation of a State of Palestine with all the attributes of sovereignty.
Washington relies primarily on the Security Council, where it has veto power (note: this is incredible, the United States has used the veto 39 times to stop either a resolution condemning Israel or to block those that do not support it), to abort the Palestinian initiative. To do this, the White House puts enormous pressure on the 10 non-permanent members of the U.N. to encourage them to vote against, or in extreme cases, to abstain from voting. This is because in the General Assembly the United States has just one voice, like each of the other 192 U.N. members.
Palestinians count on the General Assembly to remove this monstrous obstruction and show that the Obama administration's arguments to block the admission of a state of Palestine do not follow a logical path. What are the prerequisites needed by the administration to lift its veto? That the Palestinians resume direct negotiations with Israel. Except that there are some outrageous communications surrounding this hypocrisy. Are these negotiations not frozen because of the continued settlement policy, condemned by the U.N. and deplored by the U.S.? It is this same approach that is now redrawing the borders of both countries, reducing the territories vested to the Palestinians to little more than nothing. Successive prime ministers of the Jewish state did everything they could to humiliate Palestinians with the obvious goal of making them take responsibility for the breakdown of negotiations.
The Palestinians’ request, which will be submitted tomorrow to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, is quite legitimate. Abbas wants to first obtain the vote of the Security Council before considering other options. A majority of nine votes in the U.N. Security Council is necessary for the request to be validated. Abbas has already begun to convince French President Nicolas Sarkozy and the head of British diplomacy, William Hague, whose countries are permanent members of the Security Council. China and Russia have already announced their support for the Palestinian project. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez clearly explains the opportunity to join in on this request. It would be a historic act of justice for a people who have suffered through all the pain in the world.
This week, many countries have rushed to recognize the Republic of Libya. It will be difficult to justify any longer this policy of double standards. The U.N. does not need new reasons to be further discredited, as it is already on thin ice when it comes to imposing the self-determination referendum in the Western Sahara. Aware of these consequences, the U.N. secretary general seems to want to hurry away with more than a half-century of injustice. He called yesterday to end the stalemate in the Middle East. Will it be heard?
Washington relies primarily on the Security Council, where it has veto power (note: this is incredible, the United States has used the veto 39 times to stop either a resolution condemning Israel or to block those that do not support it), to abort the Palestinian initiative. To do this, the White House puts enormous pressure on the 10 non-permanent members of the U.N. to encourage them to vote against, or in extreme cases, to abstain from voting. This is because in the General Assembly the United States has just one voice, like each of the other 192 U.N. members.
Palestinians count on the General Assembly to remove this monstrous obstruction and show that the Obama administration's arguments to block the admission of a state of Palestine do not follow a logical path. What are the prerequisites needed by the administration to lift its veto? That the Palestinians resume direct negotiations with Israel. Except that there are some outrageous communications surrounding this hypocrisy. Are these negotiations not frozen because of the continued settlement policy, condemned by the U.N. and deplored by the U.S.? It is this same approach that is now redrawing the borders of both countries, reducing the territories vested to the Palestinians to little more than nothing. Successive prime ministers of the Jewish state did everything they could to humiliate Palestinians with the obvious goal of making them take responsibility for the breakdown of negotiations.
The Palestinians’ request, which will be submitted tomorrow to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, is quite legitimate. Abbas wants to first obtain the vote of the Security Council before considering other options. A majority of nine votes in the U.N. Security Council is necessary for the request to be validated. Abbas has already begun to convince French President Nicolas Sarkozy and the head of British diplomacy, William Hague, whose countries are permanent members of the Security Council. China and Russia have already announced their support for the Palestinian project. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez clearly explains the opportunity to join in on this request. It would be a historic act of justice for a people who have suffered through all the pain in the world.
This week, many countries have rushed to recognize the Republic of Libya. It will be difficult to justify any longer this policy of double standards. The U.N. does not need new reasons to be further discredited, as it is already on thin ice when it comes to imposing the self-determination referendum in the Western Sahara. Aware of these consequences, the U.N. secretary general seems to want to hurry away with more than a half-century of injustice. He called yesterday to end the stalemate in the Middle East. Will it be heard?