The Associate Press article (also found in Oct. 15, 2009 Western Herald) written by Edith M Lederer, describes the current events revolving around Palestine and Israel. The issue is to hold both Palestine and Israel accountable for their December 2008 human rights violations. Although, I believe that building a wall to contain a people should be in itself considered a human rights violation, the issue is solely based on the bombing of Gaza and southern Israel, by both Hamas and the Israeli military and government. However, Israel considers this "one-sided, biased and therefore wrong." Also, since the U.S. has put "heavy pressure" on the situation, the report will only be investigated in March 2010. The excuse: "the U.S. feared it would jeopardize attempts to revive the Mideast peace process."
I have several things to say about this. I'm not sure I believe the U.S. is doing this to work on the peace process. I think there is another motive involved. Also, the events took place in 2008! The issue should have been dealt with by now. By disregarding it for this long, the peace process will only be pushed farther into the future. As Palestinian Foreign Minister said, "[the report is] another wake-up call to the international community that must not be ignored.... The credibility and foundations of international human rights and humanitarian law, as well as of the U.N. as a whole, is at stake."
The United States is standing in the way of the Security Council to take actions, because it believes the issue should be handled by the Human Rights Council. Does it really matter who out of those two councils handles the issue? I think it's just a way to have control over the actions and processes. The U.N. Ambassador to France believes that both Palestine and Israel should "conduct independent investigations that meet international standards." How is that suppose to work? Both sides will "overlook" certain issues and not admit to their wrongdoings. I believe someone from the outside, someone who cannot be bribed by either position, (not a U.S. American) should investigate each side.
Another interesting aspect to the situation is that both sides are blaming each other of the same violations. They both state that the other "aimed their rockets at innocent... civilians."
I hope to see peace between Israel and Palestine within my lifetime.
14 years ago
Very interesting, what I'm noticing emerging is a criticism of both Israel and Palestine. It appears to me that nations are unwilling to fully recognize the atrocities that they are committing against one another; however, I would also argue that Israel positions itself more often as the victim of Palestinian extremists while ignoring the radicalism within their own nation whereas Palestinians openly recognize the differences between the official government and organizations like Hezbollah.
ReplyDeleteI think you mean Hammas. Hezbollah is in Lebanon...
ReplyDeleteI find it very unlikely that anyone will ever live to see peace in Palestine. One reason for this is the fact that both parties feel they have an undeniable right to the land. It seems that conflicts rooted in religion and ideology very rarely (maybe never, though I don't feel qualified to make such a claim) reach any sort of compromise.
ReplyDeleteI share your skepticism about the role of the Americans. Frankly, I am outraged that the US has done so much to support the recent outrageous criminal attacks in Lebanon and Gaza. Regarding the Goldstone report (Gaza) the US congress voted overwhelmingly to refuse to recognize it. As Dennis Kucinich, one of only 30 congressman who votes against this, stated, "Almost as serious as committing war crimes is covering up war crimes, pretending that war crimes were never committed and did not exist."
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