Palestine UN Vote Postmortems

Palestine UN Vote Postmortems

by Stephen Lendman

Pillar of Cloud echoes are still audible. Cast Lead crimes aren't forgotten. Nor is Gaza's siege, occupation harshness, expanding settlements, and horrific daily persecution.

Palestine remains locked down and isolated. UN voting changed nothing. Partial or full membership grants no immunity. Israel takes full advantage. That's how rogue states operate. Palestinian suffering continues.

Another article cited Haaretz saying Israel suffered a humiliating UN defeat. Perhaps so, but does it matter? The fullness of time will tell.

"Israel's leaders competed with each other Thursday over who will utter the most disparaging remark about the Palestinian move in the United Nations," said Haaretz. 

"Never have so many press releases been issued over an event that they themselves characterized as meaningless."

Netanyahu heads Israel's worst ever government. It replicates despotic ones. It's more hypocrisy than democracy. It's an embarrassment to legitimate governance.

Netanyahu was quoted in a companion article. He said more. Whenever he opens his mouth he puts both feet in. Perhaps one day he'll swallow them and choke.

He called Thursday's vote "a meaningless resolution that won’t change anything on the ground. No Palestinian state will arise without an arrangement ensuring the security of Israeli citizens."

He added that Abbas's UN speech was "defamatory and venomous."

Days earlier, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said, "If the proposal is adopted at the United Nations General Assembly, as far as we are concerned this would be a complete breaking of the rules and it will elicit an extreme response from us."

Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said, "This day is the day of the historic rout of the Palestinians." 

During Pillar of Cloud terror bombing, he said Palestinians killed and injured "deserved it." Other Israeli hardliners express similar views. 

They represent racist police state harshness. Israel isn't fit to live in. Many Jews are voting with their feet and leaving. They have just cause.

Former Kadima leader, Tzipi Livni, now heads a new party called Hatnua (the Movement). She said Palestine's UN vote was a "strategic terrorist attack."

Vice Premier Silvan Shalom called the vote recognition that only Israel honors agreements reached with the PA.

Israeli UN envoy Ron Prosor addressed the General Assembly. He said the body's resolution "ignore(d) Israel's vital security and national interests." He called it "so one-sided, it….push(ed peace) backwards."

"Time and again," he claimed, Israel "sought peace with the Palestinians. Time and again, we have been met by rejection of our offers, denial of our rights, and terrorism targeting our citizens."

His entire speech wreaked of duplicity and shameless lies. Whatever their views, Member State representatives weren't fooled. 

At the same time, a chasm separates their rhetorical support and what they gave Thursday from their failure to hold Israel accountable for decades of horrendous crimes. They continue daily in plain sight.

Palestinians bear a heavy cross. UN status affords no protection.

Haaretz said Netanyahu and senior ministers have themselves to blame for Thursday's vote. They're rigidly hardline. They spurn diplomacy and peace.

"Anyone with eyes in his head can see the diplomatic failure from afar. Having sowed wind during the past four years, on Thursday (Netanyahu and those around him) reaped a storm," said Haaretz.

"Sadly, the next government will probably be even more extreme right-wing and cannot be expected to change direction."

It's as bad or worse in Washington. Rogues run America. Policies reflect high crimes too extreme to ignore. Fundamental democratic values and rule of law principles don't have a chance. War on humanity and police state harshness don't let them.

Ahead of Thursday's vote, Congress suspended over $200 million in PA aid over concerns about what happened and possible Hamas/Fatah reconciliation.

On Wednesday and Thursday, lawmakers proposed 2013 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) amendments. They want funding to Palestinians and supportive countries cut off.

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R. FL) chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee. She represents the lunatic fringe of Republican hardliners.

"There must be consequence for (Palestinian) rejectionism and continued irresponsibility," she said. 

Democrat and Republican senators said they'll halt aid if Palestine uses its upgraded status against Israel. Senator from AIPAC Chuck Schumer (D. NY) said:

"We are committed, Democrats and Republicans, to using every means at our disposal to ensure that this UN General Assembly vote does not serve as a precedent for elevating the status of the PLO."

Neocon Senator Lindsey Graham (R. SC) added:

"The biggest fear I have is that the Palestinians achieve this status it won’t be very long before the Palestinians use the United Nations as a club against Israel."

The Israeli Lobby had its say. AIPAC said "Palestinian UN Upgrade Undermines Peace Efforts."

Israel, of course, bears full responsibility. It spurns peace, stability, and recognition of fundamental Palestinian rights.

Anti-Defamation League (ADL) national director Abe Foxman and national chair Barry Curtiss-Lusher jointly said:

"With this resolution, the General Assembly has handed the Palestinian leadership a pyrrhic public relations victory, which in all likelihood will make it even more difficult to move the process forward."  

"The result of the vote is no surprise. The General Assembly has always given a rubber stamp to Palestinian declarations and grandstanding."

"In the long term, this resolution will have potentially disastrous consequences for future Palestinian aspirations."  

"It brings the Palestinian people no closer to statehood, nor does it bring Israel closer to peace and security."

Congressional, Knesset and Israeli Lobby hardliners prioritize war on humanity, violent confrontations, racist hate, misinformation, bald-faced lies, and support for Israel's worst crimes.

In Jerusalem, police prevented MKs Aryeh Eldad and Michael Ben Ari from burning a Palestinian flag outside UN headquarters.

Western scoundrel media support for Israel is longstanding. On November 28, a Washington Post editorial headlined "What will Palestinians do after the UN vote?"

Will peace talks resume? Will Palestine sue Israeli officials at the ICC? Will Fatah/Hamas reconciliation happen? Will Palestinian violence and Abbas' retirement follow?

Like other media scoundrels, the Post ignored Palestinian statehood, blamed the PA for not pursuing peace, accused Hamas of "lob(bing) rockets at Israel," and PA leaders of "submit(ting) pointless petitions to the United Nations."

The editorial, previous ones, op-eds, and straight reporting ignore decades of occupation harshness, illegal settlements, and horrendous Israeli crimes.

Previous New York Times editorials opposed Palestinian self-determination. Only Jewish rights matter in Times Square.

On November 28, another New York Times editorial headlined "The Palestinians UN Bid." It reaffirmed which side it's on. Longstanding Times policy spurns Palestinian rights.

General Assembly support won't "endure creation of a viable Palestinian state and guarantee Israel's security."

Palestinian statehood exists. A companion article explained. Palestinians never threatened Israeli security. They don't now. Israel menaces the region. Times editors ignore facts on the ground they know or should.

"Peace negotiations have been at an impasse since 2008."

Legitimate peace talks never happened because Israel spurns them. Palestinians wanted conflict resolution for decades. Without a legitimate partner, it's impossible.

The Times urged "serious new effort(s) at a negotiated two-state solution." When Israel's Separation Wall is completed, its West Bank control will approach 60%.

Over half a million settlers occupy Palestinian land. More join them daily. Closed military zones, restricted tourist areas, commercial locations, and other Jews-only development exclude non-Jews.

At one time, two states were viable. No longer. Partition won't work. What will is one state for all its people at peace with equal rights.  It's the only legitimate way if pursued and given a chance.

Israelis won't propose it. Nor have Palestinians. Israel wants all valued parts of Judea and Samaria it wishes. It wants Jerusalem as its exclusive capital.

Ideally, it wants Palestinians gone. At best, they'll be tolerated with no rights within isolated cantons on worthless scrubland.

Refugees wanting to return will be denied. Persecution will continue. Palestinians and Israeli Arabs will be targeted. Conflict resolution won't happen. Conditions will get progressively worse.

Israel wants permanent occupation legalized. Palestinians deserve long denied liberation. Democratic legitimacy requires one nation for all its people, irrespective of race, religion, ethnicity, or other differentiating characteristics. 

It requires equal rights, observance of international law principles, and ending decades of occupation, colonization and apartheid.

It requires prohibiting what's no longer tolerable and never was. It requires treating Arabs and Jews equally. It requires establishing binding statutes mandating it. It requires enforcing them. It requires commitment to do the right thing.

It won't happen without committed international support. It's high time long-suffering Palestinians got it. Nothing less is tolerable.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. 

His new book is titled "How Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized Banking, Government Collusion and Class War"

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