THE United Nations General Assembly on Friday overwhelmingly endorsed a declaration outlining “tangible, time-bound and irreversible steps” toward a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians, ahead of a meeting of world leaders.
The seven-page declaration resulted from an international conference at the UN in July, hosted by Saudi Arabia and France, on the decades-long conflict. The United States and Israel boycotted the event. The resolution endorsing the declaration received 142 votes in favour, 10 against and 12 abstentions. The vote comes ahead of a September 22 meeting of world leaders—on the sidelines of the high-level UN General Assembly—where Britain, France, Canada, Australia and Belgium are expected to formally recognize a Palestinian State.
The UN General Assembly and the Security Council adopted hundreds of resolutions spanning over decades on the burning issue of the Middle-East, reflecting will of the global community but the latest one is important in the sense it has been passed at a time when Israel, backed openly by the United States, is trying to eliminate Palestinians physically and annex their lands through use of military power. The Jewish State has become berserk and is making mockery of the UN system and the international law, forcing many countries, including those that were previously considered its well-wishers, to make commitments for recognition of the Palestinian State. Analysts and diplomatic circles believe the latest resolution gives a fresh life to the idea of two-states in the backdrop of a recent statement of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu “We are going to fulfill our promise that there will be no Palestinian State. This place belongs to us”. This is not a hollow claim as the Israeli PM has officially moved forward with a settlement expansion plan in the occupied West Bank that would make any future Palestinian State virtually impossible. The development plan, which includes 3,400 new homes for Israeli settlers, would cut off much of the West Bank from occupied East Jerusalem while linking up thousands of Israeli settlements in the area.
East Jerusalem carries particular significance to Palestinians as their choice for the capital of a future Palestinian State. All Israeli settlements in the West Bank, occupied since 1967, are considered illegal under international law, regardless of whether they have Israeli planning permission. Apart from this nefarious move in the context of the West Bank, Israel, these days, is using its full military might to gain complete control of Gaza city where natives have been asked to evacuate. Israel is paying no attention to the repeated calls by the international community to halt the offensive as it is aggravating the already challenging humanitarian crisis but Israeli forces killed fifty more Gazans as the UN was adopting the resolution envisaging a two-state solution. In fact, the resolution is somewhat pro-Israel and anti-Gazans as it not only condemns the attacks against Israel by Hamas but also means international isolation of the group. The resolution envisages no role of Hamas in the future set-up in the Middle-East and wants its surrender and disarmament. However, despite this lopsided nature of the resolution, reaction from the Jewish State and its mentor – the United States – is a clear indication that it will not help in any significant way in efforts to restore peace and move towards a durable solution of the crisis. Israel has described the UN vote for the resolution as a theatre whereas Washington described it as “yet another misguided and ill-timed publicity stunt” that undermined serious diplomatic efforts to end the conflict. Palestinians, who are being crushed in every manner, see it as another indication of global support and solidarity with their rights as it calls for an immediate end to the war and deployment of an international stabilization mission mandated by the UN Security Council. The development is positive but it would gain strength if countries moved ahead with their pledges to recognize the Palestinian State during the forthcoming UNGA session.
