Note: A full summary of today’s Security Council meeting on the Middle East will be made available after its conclusion.
Briefings
JAMES ZOGBY, Arab American Institute, said that Palestinian victims need to be known and the impact of the humiliation and abuse on these families must be understood. He shared stories of families given an hour notice “before the bulldozers came” or the farmer standing powerless as 100-year-old orchards were demolished. “Behind each incident are real people whose lives were upended, futures darkened, their families traumatized and angry,” he said. Annually the General Assembly speaks to these violations of human rights, but its resolutions are ignored. When Palestinians prepare a case for the International Criminal Court, they’re threatened with sanctions. These violations continue to occur daily, impacting the lives of real people.
“Their voices must be heard,” he stressed, underlining the special responsibility the United Nations has in regard to the matter. Israel is the only country conditionally admitted for membership, obligating it to implement United Nations resolutions-past prior to its admission. It is not Israel that is being singled out for criticism, rather it is Israel that is being singled-out by some in the United States and excused for its behaviour. There is an extremist political culture in Israel today. Polling data demonstrates that a majority of Israelis do not view Palestinians as equal human beings.
Given the traumatic nightmare visited upon millions of Palestinians for the past 56 years, is it any wonder that a recent poll shows a majority Palestinian rejecting moderate leadership and favouring armed struggle, he asked. “This tragic deformity in Palestinian political culture is the result of the continued brutality of the Occupation,” he added. Israel needs to know that there are red lines, which, if crossed, have consequences. And Palestinians need to know they are not alone and that violence is not the answer. “Only after we have changed the political dynamic and helped transform the political deformities infecting both societies can a political horizon emerge and meaningful negotiations take place,” he said.
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