January 21, 2013

Does Israel Rule The World?

Why are so many nations bending to Israel’s will or staying silent on its crimes? What is it about this minuscule country that enables it to have so much control on decisions made by larger and more powerful nations? It refuses to abide by international laws and treaties. It illegally occupies great swathes of Palestinian land and it’s imposing an illegal blockade on Gaza. Moreover, it is the only country that could get away with assassinating its enemies on foreign soil.

If any other country or territory with a smaller population than New York behaved as outrageously as Israel, it would be isolated, boycotted and, perhaps, even invaded. Yet, Israel gets away with ignoring a long list of UN Security Council resolutions — as opposed to Saddam’s Iraq, which was invaded, plundered and occupied on those same grounds.

Israel has a stockpile of undeclared nuclear weapons and, as documentation recently released by Pretoria confirms, was prepared to sell nuclear warheads and technology to South Africa during apartheid; a reality that counters U.S. claims that Israel is a responsible democracy that would never supply weapons of mass destruction (WMD) to rogue states.

Iran, on the other hand, which does not have nuclear weapons — and, unlike Israel, is a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) — is being subjected to UN sanctions.

When all 189 signatories to the NPT — including the U.S. — agreed to hold a conference during 2012 “on the establishment of a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons …” Sounds good! President Barack Obama has espoused the idea of a nuclear-free Middle East. The entire Arab world has been pushing for a nuclear-free Middle East and Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has long called for a nuclear-free region.

But wait! The usual suspect, Israel, is none too pleased because it believes it is being singled out. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described the call as “deeply flawed and hypocritical”, while his office has issued a statement that reads: “As a non-signatory state of the NPT, Israel is not obligated by the decisions of this conference, which has no authority over Israel”.

No surprise there! But then Obama promptly does an about-turn, saying, “We strongly oppose efforts to single-out Israel and will oppose actions that jeopardize Israel’s security”. His message begs the question, how on earth can the region ever be free of nuclear weapons if Israel is kept out of the equation when it is the only nuclear country in the area?

Now here’s a turn of events that makes me wonder whether America’s capital city is actually Tel Aviv.

 

Source: https://www.sott.net/articles

Palestinian - UN Bid Rejected

UN Admission Committee, specialized for recognizing new states’ applications, submitted its report to the UN Security Council on Friday, reading that the Palestinian-UN full membership has been rejected after discussions regarding the Palestinian bid.

The committee’s secretary, the Portuguese ambassador to the UN Gabriel Jose Blaba said that “The UNSC member states would continue their discussions regarding the upcoming Palestinian steps of the Palestinian application at the UN.”

Eight members voted in favor of the Palestinian-UN bid, which are Russia, China, India, Brazil, South Africa, Niger, Gabon and Lebanon while 7 other members voted against the bid including the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Columbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Portugal has abstained.

It is worth mentioning that the committee’s stand has been leaked out few days ago which cause the Palestinian Minister Foreign Affairs, Riyad Al-Maliki, confirming the Palestinian bid for full membership at the UN. He further stated that the Palestinians would continue their attempts in order for Palestine to be a full member at the international body.

 

Source: https://khamakarpress.com/2011/11/11/palestinian-un-bid-rejected/

 

UK to abstain on Palestine UN-membership vote

SHAME ON YOU, HAGUE.

YOU PERFIDIOUS, MENDACIOUS COWARDS…

Britain has said that it will abstain from voting if Palestine’s application for full-membership at the UN was taken up in the UN Security Council.

William Hague, the British foreign secretary, said on Wednesday that his government had decided to abstain from voting in the hope that it would help bring Palestine and Israel back to the negotiating table.

“We will not vote against the application because of the progress the Palestinian leadership has made towards meeting the criteria,” Hague said, speaking to the British parliament.

“But nor can we vote for it while our primary objective remains a return to negotiations through the Quartet process and the success of those negotiations.”

Hague said the Palestinian Authority “largely fulfills the criteria for UN membership,” but granting it the status would impede its “ability to function effectively as a state”.

The Palestinian campaign, launched with a dramatic speech by President Mahmoud Abbas at UN headquarters in September, has fallen onto hard times in recent weeks.

While the speech was warmly received, the Palestinians have struggled to muster the nine votes needed in the 15-member Security Council to approve their bid for membership as a state.

Britain’s announcement comes a day after a similar statement by France.

The council’s admissions committee is expected to endorse a draft report on its members views of the application on Friday. But it remains unclear when the council will actually vote on the issue.

Back-up plan

The abstentions come as Palestinians are resigned to defeat in their quest for full membership, according to media reports.

The Associated Press (AP) reported that Palestinian officials have started work on their backup plan of seeking an upgraded observer status that would give them access to key international organisations.

They hope that this enhanced status would help them build on their entry last month to UNESCO, the UN’s cultural agency.

Foreign Minister Riad Malki conceded that his government would not be able to gain enough support in the council.

“We knew that the Security Council would not be a picnic. But the most important thing here is who is going to win in the final round,” he told AP.

“There will be other rounds, and we will never despair.”

The Palestinians turned to the United Nations after a three-year deadlock in peace talks.

They asked the world body to endorse a Palestinian state in the occupied West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem- territories captured by Israel in the 1967 war.

While a UN vote would not change the situation on the ground, the Palestinians believe a strong international endorsement would boost their position in negotiations.

The Palestinians say they will not return to the negotiating table unless Israel halts settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to stop the construction, which has settled 500,000 Israelis onto lands claimed by the Palestinians, calling for talks without preconditions.

Hague also criticized Israel’s announcement last week of accelerating the construction of 2,000 settlements.

The eighth announcement of settlement expansion in six months was “wrong and deeply counterproductive,” he said.

 

Source: https://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2011/11/201111919479442925.html