As noted in a previous post, it seems that on Friday next, there will be a showdown at the UN, by which the Palestinian Arab delegation will ask for a UN Security Council Vote to accept Palestine (apparently with borders set by the pre-1967 armistice lines) as a state in the UN.
If this fails -- and the United States has indicated that it will veto the proposal, it is likely that the Palestinian Arabs will then seek a UN General Assembly resolution that directly or indirectly gives them majority support of UN members for such statehood.
The direct effect of such diplomatic maneuverings, would be to kill the Oslo peace process, which has been the basis under which negotiations have been ongoing since 1993, towards an amicable settlement of the disputes, to create a basis for permanent peace. Those negotiations have been rather rocky, with a low grade war proceeding for much of the period; much of that driven by Palestinian Arab terrorism campaigns that target civilians. This is unsurprising, as the repeated declared intent of Palestinian Arab leaders has been the destruction of Israel. From time to time as well, some of these leaders have spoken about massacring Jews.
And, from time to time, we have all too grim reminders enough of the reality.
And, from time to time, we have all too grim reminders enough of the reality.
Indeed -- though Hamas does not support the latest proposed moves at the UN -- the Hamas covenant, Article 7 concludes by citing the infamous Gharqad Tree hadith from Mohammed:
. . . The Islamic Resistance [= HAMAS, an Arabic acronym] Movement aspires to implement Allah's promise, whatever time that may take. The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him salvation, has said: "The Day of Judgment will not come about until the Muslims will fight the Jews (and kill them), until the Jews hide behind rocks and trees, which will cry: Oh Muslim! Oh Abdullah! [= servant/slave of Allah, a common Muslim name], there is a Jew behind me, come on and kill him. Only the Gharqad tree would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews."
This is not a good basis for amity between peoples who are, in the end, cousins. And, it does not help that the Hadiths (i.e. collected traditions of Mohammed) are in effect the number two Moslem holy book, and the basis for much of the interpretation and application of the Quran.
United States former UN Ambassador, John Bolton, has given his views on these latest moves in Turtle Bay, New York, in the past few days:
When this further diplomatic move is added to the worrying developments in Egypt, with the rise of a push by radical IslamISTS to radicalise the Egyptian revolution as noted on by Col. Austin Bay, we again see signs that point to further war in the Middle East, or at least further dangerous instability and violence.
Israeli Amb. to Australia, Yuval Rotem, adds to the force of these sobering concerns:
Neither a unilateral Palestinian declaration of statehood nor a politicised move in the UN will actually resolve any of the core issues of the conflict.
A General Assembly resolution alone cannot legally decide the issue of Palestinian statehood or borders, security arrangements, the status of Jerusalem, issues concerning Palestinian and Jewish refugees and the allocation of vital water resources.
Trying to impose a solution acceptable to only one party will raise, and then dash, expectations and deepen rather than help to resolve the conflict.
In their unilateral design for statehood, the Palestinian leadership confirm their rejection of direct negotiation, preferring to force a "solution" on Israel through international pressure.
The Palestinian Authority admits these manoeuvrings are a deliberate confrontation designed to isolate Israel and undermine its legitimacy. In the words of the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, "Palestine's admission to the UN would pave the way for the internationalisation of the conflict as a legal matter. It would also pave the way for us to pursue claims against Israel at the UN."
It is therefore obvious that peace is not the Palestinians' goal. Their unilateral declaration would be exploited to launch a new frontier of war against Israel.
Palestinian "lawfare" against Israel can only fan the fires of conflict . . .
And that is not without relevance for the Caribbean. For, such developments and trends point to energy price volatility, instability of the tourism industry that is the chief economy driver in our region at present, and further general destabilisation on top of the ongoing global economic upsets.
The Caribbean region needs to diversify its economy, with a focus on high technology [including especially Mechatronics, Information and Communication Technologies, and Biotechnologies, as well as advanced and more sustainable energy technologies (also, cf. here)], and with the education and training base to support that. Not forgetting, training the trainers to build capacity for the required, sci-, math- and tech- heavy education transformation.
Which in turn points right back to the need for our region to get serious about building a more robust and sustainable future. Not to mention, a more carefully balanced and prudently informed foreign policy. (Cf also here, here & here.) END
No comments:
Post a Comment