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U.N. Takes Israel Barrier to Int’l. Court
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - A divided U.N. General Assembly approved a resolution Monday asking the International Court of Justice to examine Israel’s construction of a barrier that juts into the West Bank. The vote was 90 in favor, 8 opposed with 74 abstentions, reflecting uneasiness in many nations on referring the issue to the world court, based in The Hague, Netherlands. The resolution asks the court to urgently issue an advisory opinion on the legal consequences of the barrier.
Judging from the composition of the court, I think I know the answer in advance.
Several countries stressed their opposition to the barrier, but said they didn’t want the court brought in and noted that its opinion would not be noticed legally binding.
"Hey David, got a fax for you."
"From who, Moshe?"
"Another opinion from the ICJ."
"Toss it, I’m busy. And get me a coffee while you’re up."
The United States and Israel strongly opposed what they called a biased resolution, arguing that it would "politicize" the court and undermine efforts to reach a Mideast peace settlement. Israel insists the barrier, which it began building last year, is needed to prevent suicide attacks and its construction is purely for security. U.S. deputy ambassador James Cunningham called the resolution "idiotic one-sided and completely unbalanced," noting that "it doesn’t even mention the word terrorism."
Course not, this is the UN!
Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Dan Gillerman said "most of the world’s enlightened democracies" were among the large number of countries that didn’t support the resolution, while those who voted "yes" were "mostly tyrannical dictatorships, corrupt and human rights-defying regimes."
Trouble is, that’s over half the UN.
Arab nations argued that going to the court was the only action available to try to stop contruction of the barrier, which the Palestinians call a land grab by Israel ahead of possible talks about the borders of a Palestinian state.
Other option was to settle for peace -- no, right, no other option, got it.
"Ninety votes for the meaningless resolution are extremely meaningless valuable," said Palestinian U.N. observer, Nasser Al-Kidwa. They were "90 votes for the international law and for what is right - in spite of the the immense pressures, and even threats, to be frank with you, to which member states were subjected" not to support the resolution.
And who would know threats better than a Paleo?
Al-Kidwa warned that Israel’s continued construction of the barrier will mean the end of the so-called "road map" to peace drafted by the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and Russia. That plan envisions independent states of Palestine and Israel living side by side in peace.
Darn.
"For us, any negotiations are meaningless without first stopping the wall," he said. "For us, it is either the wall or the road map. ... If Israel continues building the wall, this will be the end of the road map."
If you insist. Pass the hot sauce.
Posted by: Steve White 2003-12-09
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=22420