World leaders must continue to stand up to Israel on occupation

Arabic News Digest translated by Jennifer Attieh

Construction is underway in the Har Homa settlement in occupied East Jerusalem. Atef Safadi / EPA

The United Nations Security Council has adopted a resolution condemning Israel's settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, with the United States notably abstaining. The resolution passed by a 14-0 vote last Friday – a day after Egypt withdrew it under pressure from Israel and US president-elect Donald Trump.

Writing in the pan-Arab daily paper Al Hayat, the columnist Hazem Saghieh said the 14-0 vote and the US abstention have exposed the global isolation of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his settlement policy.

The writer said the resolution unarguably shows the United States’s decisive role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and condemns US president Barack Obama, who has long turned his back on the issue and obstructed the use of his country’s immense power to resolve it.

“Adding misfortune to misfortune, president-elect Donald Trump named hardline pro-settlement advocate David Friedman as US ambassador to Israel and vowed to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem,” Saghieh noted.

According to the writer, the risk of Mr Trump’s position goes beyond Israel’s non-compliance with the resolution. It implies the victory of Mr Netanyahu’s right-wing policies in the United States itself.

“The isolation suffered by Israel will turn into a virtue in light of the growing protectionist and nationalist trend, and building walls could become the common approach in dealing with those who differ from us.”

Saghieh said that Palestinians and all those calling for the justice of their cause could feel prompted to join forces with the anti-Trump movement in America.

Writing in Aletihad, the Arabic-language sister publication of The National, Dr Ahmed Yousef Ahmed said Israel was shocked when New Zealand, Venezuela, Malaysia and Senegal adopted the resolution which was passed by a 14-0 vote.

This is the UN's second harsh blow against Israel in the past two months. The first was struck last October when Unesco passed a resolution denying all connection between Judaism and Jerusalem.

“The Israeli prime minister was quick to announce that his country would not comply with the resolution – an attitude all too common on the part of Israel. He imposed sanctions here and there, summoning the ambassadors of Security Council member states, cutting off agricultural aid to Senegal and cancelling the Ukrainian prime minister’s visit to Israel,” the writer said.

“Mr Netanyahu even lashed out at Barack Obama and threatened to reconsider the ties between Israel and the United Nations, both from a funding perspective and in relation to the presence of UN employees in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories,” Dr Ahmed noted.

The writer added that Israel is usurping the land and setting up illegal settlements. It is killing and incarcerating Palestinians who stand in its way or is demolishing their homes under the pretence that they were illegally built or that they belong to families of individuals accused of “terrorism” – also known as resistance.

“In brief, it is turning the daily life of the Palestinian people into a living hell, but fails to see that its behaviour is now criticised and frowned upon by more than the Palestinians as the vote in favour of the Security Council’s latest resolution clearly shows.”

Dr Ahmed said he was confident that the resolution would be ignored by Israel. “But that does not mean that it has no value or else Israel would not have reacted so angrily,” he said.

According to the writer, such resolutions undermine the legitimacy of Israel among its sensible citizens.

But, he continued, it is not by mere UN resolutions that the Palestinian cause will be resolved.

“A turnaround should happen in standing up to Israel by all available means – particularly through civilian struggle on the occupied Palestinian territories – and this is only possible once the national unity of Palestine and its Arab supporters is restored,” he concluded.

* Translated by Jennifer Attieh