Perhaps because they'd taken the BBC's "The Honourable Woman" a little
bit too literally the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Israel - no, sorry the
Fatah controlled Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank - responded
to the summer's war in Gaza by tonight finally forcing through a vote
on Palestinian statehood at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).
Obviously I am somewhat less then impressed that they're asking me to
deal with this on a Tuesday night when, as always, I've been to the pub.
Although due to the festive break I didn't get the opportunity to obtain
let alone study the blue text I understand that despite French attempts
to soften the proposal the motion tabled by Jordan still required
Israel to withdraw within the 1967 borders by, my lord, 2017. If you've
had a look at the state of Israeli politics in the aftermath of the
summer war you would know that this is simply not possible. On a related
note although mine is an endorsement Netenyahu could probably live
without I think all Israelis should think long and hard about the size
of man they're trying to get rid off.
Honestly I think the best outcome of a resolution being adopted would
have been for Israel to look around the room and go; "Supported ISIL in
Syria, Supported the UIA in Ukraine, Supported Boko Haram in Nigeria,
Killed Qaddafi in Libya, Looked at Hitler in Germany and considered him a
jolly nice chap. I think this is just another UN resolution we can
safely ignore."
The worst outcome would be that when the next Islamic Jihad missile
lands in Israel for Israel to go; "Oh look, the newly formed Palestinian
state has just declared war on us. Under international law we can now
invade and occupy "Palestine" until such a time as we know longer
consider them a threat. In the meantime they will be expected to submit
their INDC's to the UNFCCC in the first quarter of 2015."
Obviously then everyone knew that this was a stupid idea. However being
vicious anti-Semites and proud Zionists as long as the al-Sauds run Zion
the UK quietly supported the motion through the UNSC and UK
Commonwealth members Rwanda and Nigeria. Rather then having the motion
pass the UK' intention here was to put pressure on the US to veto
because Obama is both a vicious anti-Semite and generally a bit of a
coward. With question marks being raised over the US veto at the last
minute Nigeria reversed their support to an abstention meaning that the
motion fell just one vote short of the 9 vote majority that would
require a veto. The UK need not have bothered though because at the very
last minute the US decided to cast their veto carrying "No" vote.
Australia also voted no but despite the infection no-one's ever really
voted their balls.
While all this was going on I was actually watching the BBC's "Charlie
Brooker's 2014 Wipe" which if you saw the Sochi 2014 Olympic Opening
Ceremony you would understand is essential viewing. Despite the fact
that he clearly went in hard on my little brother during the "Pharrell
William's Happy is great music to run over your dog to" skit I'm going
to be charitable and assume that he gave over part of the show to Adam
Curtis and his "Power of Nightmares" foolishness to highlight the type
of conspiracy theorist lunacy he'd be forced to accept if he was left
working for Channel 4 and The Guardian newspaper full time.
After all it's quite clear Vladislav Surkov only published the article
to highlight what the US is doing in Ukraine. The reason why the rest of
the news is so unrelentingly miserable is that since 2010 the UK's been
run by a bunch of mentals and so far Obama's been too cowardly to say
"No."
00:15 on 31/12/14 (UK date).
Edited at around 12:10 on 31/12/14 (UK date) to add;
I've now had a good sleep and the alcohol induced headache is starting
to fade. However my position on last night's vote has not changed.
As I've said throughout in order to achieve statehood Palestine must
first build a functioning state in all but name. Only then can the
Palestinians starting requesting that other nations recognise their
state. Therefore true progress will come not from big and dramatic votes
at the UNSC but a series of small agreements that strengthen the PA.
Off the top of my head I would say that agreements that allow the PA to
issue deeds of ownership and other building permits along with taking
more responsibility for security in what will become the Palestinian
state seem particularly important areas.
This very confrontational campaign for UN recognition actually seems to
make that less likely. Although certainly not all Israeli Jews are are
aggressive Zionist settlers people with those views make up a
significant constituency within Israeli politics. The thing that the
Palestinians seem unable to understand is that Israel is a democracy
therefore if the government does something a large proportion of the
population does not like the people will simply change the government.
Through the 1995 assassination of Yitzhak Rabin it is clear that some
Jewish extremists are prepared to go even further then that and simply
kill Prime Ministers they don't agree with.
By aggressively pursuing the issue of statehood at the UN and in effect
handing Israel a list of demands the Palestinians are substantially
provoking the Jewish extremists. In response the extremists will
themselves become even more aggressive and their demands will become
even more extreme. This makes it next to impossible for the Israeli
government to make the series of compromises that are required to allow
Palestine to achieve statehood.
Then of course there is the issue of the extra responsibilities that
statehood will place on the Palestinians. The one I obviously
immediately think off is the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC) but there are also a host of other international agreements
that on becoming a state Palestine must immediately abide by. If a
Palestinian state cannot abide by those conventions then often there
will be immediate and serious consequences. For example if rockets were
to be fired from a Palestinian state rather then an Israeli occupied
territory it would be viewed as an act of aggressive war. That would
immediately invalidate Palestinian statehood and allow Israel - or any
other nation being attacked - to invade and occupy Palestine until such a
time as they are satisfied that the threat has been eliminated.
Sadly looking at the way that Palestine is now with it being divided
between Fatah and Hamas and government wages not getting paid because of
internal feuds I simply don't think that Palestine is ready to take on
the responsibilities that statehood brings.
(Originally Posted on 31/12/14 - UK date).
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