UN headquarters in New York. Illustrative. By Joshua Spurlock
The world is generally united against terrorism, but for some reason the supposedly moderate Palestinian Authority (PA) leadership is opposed to the United Nations condemning Hamas terrorism against Israel. The WAFA Palestinian news agency quoted a spokesman of the Fatah political faction that heads the PA as saying they “totally reject American-Israeli efforts to brand Hamas with terrorism at the UN.” Spokesman Usama Qawasmi further accused Israel—who has had to defend themselves against Hamas rockets and other violence aimed at their civilians—of sponsoring terrorism and committed to oppose “all hostile efforts to condemn” Hamas at the UN.
A resolution condemning Hamas terrorism, seeking to be the first of its kind passed by the UN, is backed by the United States and the European Union and references Hamas rockets and arson balloons . The resolution further calls for the Palestinian factions to reunite under the PA’s leadership. The US Mission to the UN said in a statement last Friday that the Palestinian representative at the UN requested a delay of a vote on the resolution from last week to next Thursday. In response, the US was clear on the importance of the vote.
“The issue before the United Nations on Thursday is not whether it supports one form or another of a Middle East peace plan. The issue is as plain as the resolution’s text,” said the US statement. “Each country will be asked to vote for or against the activities of Hamas, along with other militant groups like Palestinian Islamic Jihad. If the UN cannot bring itself to adopt this resolution, then it has no business being involved in peace discussions.”
The draft resolution’s text, including in the US press release, calls for Israel-Palestinian peace and condemns Hamas’ use of resources for militaristic purposes “when such resources could be used to address the critical needs of the civilian population.”
It also calls for all sides to respect international human rights law and for key UN representatives to have “further engagement… to assist, in cooperation with concerned partners, in the efforts to de-escalate the situation and address urgent infrastructure, humanitarian, and economic development needs.”
Israel is strongly behind the resolution. The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs posted to Twitter last week, “#Hamas has killed & wounded thousands of innocent people in hundreds of #terror attacks targeting Israeli civilians, but NOT A SINGLE #UN RESOLUTION has been passed, condemning Hamas. We call the UN to hold Hamas accountable for its terrorist actions and to #CondemnHamas NOW!”
Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon went further in a tweet on Sunday, highlighting the hypocrisy of countries that would oppose condemning Hamas terrorism and then call for UN assistance to battle their own terror threats.
“Countries that oppose it cannot turn to the UN when terror strikes. Everyone must support this historic opportunity, and join as one front against Hamas’ terrorism,” he posted to Twitter.
The same day the Americans introduced their resolution condemning Hamas terror—which the Palestinians oppose—the UN passed what the US press statement termed six “anti-Israel resolutions.” The US has repeatedly highlighted the unfair treatment of Israel by the UN and simply noted in last week’s press release that this was “pretty much an ordinary day at the UN.”
(By Joshua Spurlock, www.themideastupdate.com, December 2, 2018)