Palestinians lose all hopes while Israel defies world opinion

Israel has been behaving like a street bully in its dealings with its Arab neighbors ever since the state was thrust into the midst of the Arab world by the Western powers. Every policy and action by Israel betrays a scant regard for international law or human values, particularly when it comes to the treatment of Palestinians.

When Barack Obama succeeded George W. Bush to become the 44th president of the United States, the Arabs in general and Palestinians in particular hoped that they would get a fair deal. The general impression was that Obama would make serious efforts to make peace in the Middle East, unlike his predecessor. But the Arabs were disappointed. Obama has been adeptly sidestepping issues while presenting himself as a world leader who strives for international peace. Ironically enough, he was decorated with the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize without doing anything to guarantee real peace.

It is not hard to understand the criminal behavior of the Zionist state, given the unlimited support it has been getting from the Western world that talks too much about human rights and does too little for it when it comes to Palestinians. But what one cannot understand is why Obama should retract all his words about a fair deal to the Palestinians when an Israeli leader starts to flex his muscles.

Obama has not done anything to promote peace in Palestine. What is more, his stand has worsened the situation by giving Israel a free hand to do whatever it wants in the East Jerusalem and the West Bank. All he did was to make a halfhearted plea to the Israeli hawks to stop their settlement activities in the occupied territories.

Israel did not, obviously, take Obama’s request very seriously because its leaders know that the United States is its closest ally and they could do anything they wanted.

However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced, in an apparent attempt to avoid any embarrassment for the US president, a plan to freeze partially all settlement constructions in East Jerusalem. But in real terms Netanyahu’s words did not mean anything because the construction of settlements was continuing uninterrupted and that too with new budget allocations.

Adding to Washington’s embarrassment, Israeli premier authorized early this month the building of 84 residential units in the West Bank bringing the total number of illegal constructions to 109 units in two days.

Western leaders betray a mystifying mindset when Israel demolishes Palestinian houses and evict Palestinian women and children from their homes and arrest their men. No conscience is pricked and no public opinion is aroused to check Israel’s belligerence. Western countries accord Jews and Israel a special status that encourages Israel to commit any crime against Palestinians with impunity.

According to European laws, it is an unpardonable crime to criticize Jews. Even impartial intellectuals and media do not dare to criticize Israel’s brutalities in the Palestinian territories or even to focus on the suffering of the victims of Israel’s violations. BBC, which claims to be impartial, early this year refused to run a request from a leading British charity organization to broadcast a charity program for the benefit of Palestinian victims of the Israeli bombing because the British media company feared that the program might displease Israel.

While Israeli excesses under the protective shield of US went on, the efforts of the UN General Assembly to condemn Israel’s actions looked like a futile exercise. Members of the assembly passed two resolutions after much deliberations. The first was to cancel and nullify all constructions in Jerusalem including the administrative and legislative measures adopted by Israel to change the status and character of the city of Jerusalem. While 163 countries voted in favor of the resolution only seven objected.

The second resolution demanded Israel’s withdrawal from the Golan Heights describing the occupation as illegal. On the other hand, Israel’s representative Daniel Carmon dismissed the resolutions saying that they were unilateral and did not reflect the reality in the Middle East.

Any move criticizing Israel by the General Assembly is a wasted effort, a meaningless drama. Its resolutions have no value and there is no mechanism to implement them. Even if any of its resolutions finds its way to the Security Council, Israel has nothing to worry. A US veto is sure to protect Israel. I wonder why the two resolutions were adopted in the first place. Whether the assembly passed any resolution or not makes no difference. Israel can go unhindered with its draconian schemes under the present world order.

Reported by Hassan Tahsin - Arab News, 25 December 2009

Categories: World news