Sunday, December 12, 2010

PACE analysis - Recognition of Palestine by Latin American countries

PACE analysis: Recognition of Palestine by South American nations (Part 1)

The recognition of Palestine based on the 1967 borders by South American states have made headlines around the world. Following Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay unequivocal support of Mahmoud Abbas declaration of a sovereign Palestine by 2011. It is expected that more South and Central American states will follow suit in the days and weeks ahead. This is based on the track record of the South American states reactions’ towards events in the Middle East. President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela for instance has ended diplomatic relation with Israel and evicted the latter’s ambasssdor to Venezuela following the attack on Gaza in 2009. President Evo Morales also closed the Israeli embassy in the wake of the attack on the flotilla carrying aids and aid workers in May 2010. Bolivia is known for her defiance when the US ambassador to Bolivia was dismissed in 2008 on the grounds that the US have meddled in local politics.

As anticipated the declaration by the South American states have drawn strong condemnation by Israel and the US. WJC (World Jewish Congress) and ADL (Anti-Defamation League), lobby groups for Israel and Zionist interests slammed such unilateral declarations as an overt move to undermine and derail the peace process between Israel and the Palestinian National Authority. They insist that the final solution on borders and ‘disputed’ territories (read occupied territories from the 1967 incursion) would have to be resolved by negotiations and mutual agreement between Israel and PNA.

The US Congress has passed a resolution stating that no international recognition will accord Palestine a sovereign status. The United Nations has no jurisdiction over the matter even if scores of member states choose to recognize Palestine. Yet Israel, despite dismissing PNA’s unilateral declaration as simply a desperate ploy to rally international support, urge the Middle East Quartet lead by the US to force the Palestinian authority to carry on with ‘peace’ negotiations. Israel’s message to the US is clear; lest she has forgotten what collective and concerted effort can achieve in the recent past. It was the voice of the American public and outcry that brought the US government of the 70’s to her knees, agreeing to pull out from Vietnam and to accept defeat in great humiliation. It was the coordinated international effort that has dismantled the apartheid system in South Africa, freeing her people from an extreme form of discrimination based on colour.

In complete denial of historical truth and realities, Israel defended her position on the question of Palestine. She claim that a recognition of sovereign Palestine only means one things; the destruction of the Jewish state. The implications from a Palestine state based on the boundaries delineated by the Rhodes armistice of 1949, is Israel will be denied from a defensible boundaries and that Jerusalem will be divided The Rhodes armistice line, otherwise known as ‘the green line’ was the boundaries that Israeli army crossed in 1967 and overran East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza strip, the remaining 23% of the original Palestine left after the Arab-Israeli war of 1948 and the Rhodes armistice adjustment of the boundaries drawn from the 181 UN resolution. This historical realities needs no other interpretation than Israel was the aggressor and denys Palestinian of a homeland and a statehood. The legitimacy of a Palestinian homeland and state on the remaining 23% of the original Palestine has been acknowledged by the United Nation based on the UN Security Council 242 Resolution. The 242 resolutions states explicitly that Israel must withdraw to the 1967 boundaries (the green line), relinquish control over all Palestinian territories in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza strip. The United Nations reckoned that those territories are under occupation for as long as Resolution 242 is not complied with by Israel. Now considering these realities, what ‘defensible boundaries’ are the Israelis referring to? It was the Palestinian ends which has been subjected to constant military incursions, indiscriminate bombings, land confiscations, home demolitions, unlawful detention, torture, arbitrary killings and even massacre for the past four decades. A ‘defensible boundaries’ in the language of the Zionist can only refers to one thing; the separation wall which snakes through the west bank and cuts deep into the west bank, cutting off large swath of Palestinian land and separates one Palestinian community from another. When the separation wall is completed, the West bank will be reduced to Palestinian cantonments, sealing off the fate of Palestinians and dashed their dreams and hope of ever seeing a liberated and a sovereign Palestine.

The declaration of Jerusalem as the united and eternal capital of Israel has been made unlawful by the United Nations. It was a unilateral decision which received the blessings and recognition by the US. East Jerusalem has been under occupation following the 1967 Israeli invasion, consolidated with West Jerusalem (part of Israeli territory of 1948) and declared as the united and eternal capital of Israel. Since then, Israel has been consistently pursuing a policy of judaising East Jerusalem, displacing Palestinians with immigrant jews, confiscating lands and serving eviction notice to local Arab residence. The changing demographic make up is a part of the sinister plan to free Jerusalem from Arab presence. The ultimate goal is to take over the so called ‘temple mount’, the holy sanctuary of Al-Aqsa mosque with the aim of constructing a Jewish temple or ‘Haykal Sulaiman’ on the rubbles of al-Aqsa. So the issue here is not ‘dividing’ Jerusalem as the Zionist claim, but rather returning Jerusalem to it’s true status as a sanctuary for all of mankind. Jerusalem under the Islamic rule has never been an exclusive city for the muslims. It has been declared as an open city for all Abrahamic religions since the time of the Caliph Umar al-Khattab. Zionist plan of changing the religious landscape by desecration of Islamic and Christian places of worship and holy sanctuary is contrary to the identity of Jerusalem, for which it has been known for much of her later history.

(end of part I)

Dr Hafidzi Mohd Noor

Director

PACE (Palestine Centre of Excellence)

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