US Vetoes Palestinian Statehood Resolution

by Stephen Lendman

Voting came Tuesday night. It didn't surprise. More on the results below.

Washington one-sidedly supports Israel. Including decades of ruthless persecution. Institutionalized racism. Permanent occupation.

Denial of fundamental Palestinian rights. Land theft. Settlement construction on stolen Palestinian land.

Longstanding Israeli ethnic cleansing. Thousands of Palestinian political prisoners in its gulag. Naked aggression at its discretion. Slow-motion genocide.

Palestine's resolution was tepid at best. Way short of what's just. What Palestinians deserve. What international law mandates.

America and Australia voted no. Argentina, Chad, Chile, China, France, Jordan, Luxembourg and Russia voted yes.

Britain, Lithuania, Nigeria, Rwanda and South Korea abstained. Bullied by Washington to do so. A 9-vote majority is needed for passage.

America, Britain, China, France and Russia have veto power. Able to defeat resolutions regardless of how other SC members vote.

Washington abuses its authority repeatedly. Vetoing dozens of resolutions at Israel's behest. Supporting virtually everything it wants. Regardless of how outlandish.

Including Palestinian statehood. A fundamental human right. Universally recognized. "(B)ased on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples," according to the UN Charter, Article 1.

"Everyone…entitled to all" Universal Declaration of Human Rights "freedoms…"

"(W)ithout distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status."

"(O)n the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty."

An estimated 134 countries recognize Palestinian statehood. America categorically refuses. Now now. Not ever.

Except on unilaterally imposed Israeli terms. Granting Palestinians at most isolated ghettoized conclaves on worthless scrubland.

A state in name only. Mocking their fundamental rights. Ones granted 193 other nations. Including Israel.

Despite its longstanding defiance of international laws, norms and standards. Ones it swore to uphold to qualify for UN membership.

Neocon Samantha Power is Obama's UN envoy. Disgracing the office she holds. Repeating one Big Lie after another in explaining Washington's no vote.

Claiming "no government has invested more in the effort to achieve Israeli-Palestinian peace than the United States."

False! No nation did more to prevent it. Collaboratively with Israel. Peace defeats their agenda. Conflict and instability benefit it.

Power: Palestine's resolution "undermine(s) efforts to get back to an atmosphere that makes it possible to achieve two states for two people."

False! Washington, Israel and likeminded states categorically oppose Palestinian rights. Including self-determination.

Power: Resolution text language "addresses the concerns of only one side."

"It is deeply imbalanced and contains many elements that are not conducive to negotiations between the parties, including unconstructive deadlines that take no account of Israel’s legitimate security concerns."

False! Resolution language stopped of including all rights Palestinians deserve. Including ending Israeli occupation in months at most. Not years.

Palestinian statehood on all land within June 1967 borders. Including control of its borders, air space, offshore waters and resources.

East Jerusalem its exclusive capital. Diaspora Palestinians able to return freely. Israel having no say over sovereign Palestinian territory.

Power: "We voted against this resolution…because peace will come from hard choices and compromises that must be made at the negotiating table."

"Today’s staged confrontation in the UN Security Council will not bring the parties closer to achieving a two-state solution."

"This resolution sets the stage for more division - not for compromise. It could well serve to provoke the very confrontation it purports to address."

False! Israel doesn't compromise. It demands. Affording Palestinians no rights whatever. With full US support.

Power represents America's dark side. In lockstep with Israeli ruthlessness. Imperial partners. Waging permanent wars without end.

Against everything free people deserve. Wanting them subjugated and exploited. On the wrong side all issues mattering most.

Obama ludicrously claimed peace depends on both "parties sit(ting) down together."

"(L)isten(ing) to each other…(U)nderstand(ing) each other's hopes and fears."

"That is the project to which America is committed, and that is what the United Nations should be focused on…"

Truth is polar opposite. Washington and Israel partner against peace, equity and justice. Perpetuating conflicts. Wars of conquest.

Imposing their will on subjugated peoples. In brazen violation of international law.

Days earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow recognized Palestinian statehood in the late 1980s.

"Therefore, we have no questions whatsoever concerning the recognition of the Palestinian statehood as it was proposed by the UN Security Council’s draft resolution."

On Tuesday, Russia's UN envoy Vitaly Churkin said Moscow "cannot share the objections of those who believe that the draft resolution was undermining the prospects of the negotiating process."

"Unfortunately, last year revealed how this process has gone into a blind alley, with its monopolization by the United States and their pullback from the Quartet (America, EU, UN and Russia). We believe this to be a strategic mistake."

Churkin accused Washington of bringing negotiations "to a dead end." China's UN envoy Liu Jieyi said:

“This draft reflects just demands of Arab states, including the Palestinian people, and is in accord with the relevant UN resolutions, the 'land for peace' principle, the Arab peace initiative and the Middle Eastern peace roadmap."

It's "in accord with China’s consistent position. We express deep regret over the failure of the draft resolution to be adopted."

Israel reacted as expected. Its UN mission representative Israel Nitzan-Tikochinski saying:

"I have news for the Palestinians. You cannot provoke your way to a state."

"The Palestinians seek - and find - every opportunity to avoid direct negotiations and to walk circumventing paths."

"We've become accustomed to their political maneuvers. But today they surpassed themselves by going all the way to the Security Council to make a mockery of it with embarrassing resolutions."

Israel's UN envoy Ron Prosor didn't attend the Security Council session. Nor his assistant David Roth.

Both were in Jerusalem for a conference. An unnamed senior Israeli official called their absence "total incompetence."

Haaretz said Nigeria initially was the 9th Security Council Palestinian statehood yes vote. Moving from support to abstention.

A Palestinian source told London's Guardian: "Even half an hour before the vote, Nigeria indicated it was committed to voting for the resolution."

Kerry and Netanyahu called Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan. Pressuring him to withdraw support, according to the Guardian. US bullying is relentless.

Intelligence minister Yuval Steinitz accused PLO officials of staging "a hostile and one-sided political offensive against Israel."

Other Israeli officials made similar comments. Willfully distorting hard truths.

Palestinian envoy Riyad Mansour said PLO officials will meet Wednesday to decide what's next.

"Our effort was a serious…genuine effort to open the door for peace. Unfortunately, the Security Council is not ready to listen to that message," he said.

"It is most regretful that the Security Council remain(s) paralyzed."

The Times of Israel said Abbas could sign the Rome Statute Wednesday evening in Ramallah.

Doing so permits accusing Israeli officials of war crimes in the International Criminal Court. Despite its longstanding history of backing Western interests.

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Israel would react accordingly. Including freezing Palestinian assets. Dismantling the PA. Perhaps harder than ever harsh repression. Maybe more war.

Days earlier, AIPAC arrogantly accused Palestinians of "put(ting) forward a proposal to impose terms on Israel." Falsely calling it "one-sided."

Anti-Defamation League (ADL) national director Abraham Foxman accused Abbas of "play(ing) a dangerously negative political game with the future of the Palestinian people."

Calling his resolution "a new low…One-sided measures…will not bring about the reconciliation of Israel and the Palestinians.," he claimed.

Foxman is a notorious racist. Supporting Jewish supremacy. Israei rights at the expense of Arab ones. Including occupation harshness and brute force.

America's media back Israel one-sidedly. An earlier New York Times editorial headlined "Palestinians at the UN, Again."

Then seeking nonmember observer state status. Times editors called it "a move that (won't) do anyone any good. It will not change facts on the ground, and it will come at a cost."

Not a word about what Palestinians deserve. How Israel and Washington consistently deny their most fundamental rights. Why justice is long overdue.

A previous article discussed Times editors headlining "The Embattled Dream of Palestine." Ignoring decades of dead on arrival peace talks.

Occupation harshness. Repeated Israeli high crimes against peace. Apartheid worse than South Africa's.

Palestinians denied virtually all rights everyone deserves. Brutalized ruthlessly for decades. Longstanding injustice begging for responsible resolution.

Washington Post editors headlined "Mahmound Abbas is again insisting on failure."

Ludicrously accusing him of "refus(ing) to accept a US-brokered 'framework' for the creation of a Palestinian state."

Kerry's proposal was one-sided. Favoring Israel. At the expense of fundamental Palestinian rights.

Demands no responsible leader could accept. WaPo editors didn't explain. Instead accused Abbas of "pushing yet another quixotic attempt to have the UN Security Council impose Palestinian terms for a settlement on Israel."

In mid-November, Wall Street Journal editors accused Palestinians of "Jihad in Jerusalem." Trying to "murder their way to a self-governing state."

Ignoring decades of occupation harshness. Israeli state terror. Naked aggression at its discretion.

Slow-motion genocide against millions of defenseless Palestinian civilians. High crimes begging for accountability.

Universally recognized Palestinian self-determination long overdue. Don't expect scoundrel editors to explain. On the wrong side of all issues mattering most.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

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