As Israel continues with its latest criminal rampage, I’ve been noting how Israeli government officials interviewed on television love to cite UN resolution 1559 and allege that the Lebanese government has failed to comply with it. This, then, supposedly forms some kind of implicit justification for the ongoing collective punishment of the Lebanese people.
Why do the reporters doing the interviewing not bring up the fact that Israel, too, has had a washing list of UN resolutions issued against it, each of which it has arrogantly flouted? Indeed, most recently, Kofi Annan himself condemned Israel for its disproportionate response to the Hezbollah kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers.
Why do the Israelis believe that all countries except Israel must comply with UN resolutions? Why does the spineless international community allow Israel to get away with incident after incident of collective punishment of other peoples, including Palestinian and Lebanese civilians? Why aren’t all countries subject to and held accountable under international law?
The picture wouldn’t be complete, of course, without a dishonourable mention of the US. Whilst channelling billions of dollars in military aid to Israel with the left hand, the right hand now adopts the pretence of intending to broker peace in the Middle East. And yet, Condoleezza Rice rejects the idea of an immediate ceasefire. What kind of diplomat doesn’t want the fighting to stop, so that the parties in question can sit around the negotiating table and hammer out some kind of enduring agreement? As if a short-term ceasefire precludes some more sustainable agreement for the long term.
And so it’s really just business as usual, isn’t it? The US protectorate of Israel does whatever it pleases, US hegemony intimidates other nations into shrugging their shoulders and looking the other way, the UN issues perfunctory condemnations that no-one heeds, and another Lebanese child loses her parents and her eyesight.
I started this entry by talking of UN resolutions directed at Israel. You may be interested to know that there are no fewer than 65 such resolutions in existence.