When Negroponte Raised His Hand, US Credibility Sunk to a New Low

Category: Americas, Faith & Spirituality Views: 3290
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The US government chose to veto a UN Security Council resolution on Tuesday, September 16, pressing Israel not to "remove" Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat. It was, yet again, John Negroponte who raised his hand conveying his country's objection.

Briefly after Negroponte, the US Ambassador to the United Nations, had the honor of bending international will through the American veto for the 77th time since the creation of the United Nations in 1948, he rushed to make sense out of his government's insensible act. The draft was "flawed", Negroponte exclaimed, for it failed to include a "robust condemnation of acts of terrorism, an explicit condemnation of Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades."

But Negroponte, as well as every other member state of the United Nations knows too well that even with an "explicit" condemnation of Hamas, an American veto was likely to be unleashed anyway.

To its credit, the draft resolution did in fact condemn violence and terrorism, demanding "complete cessation of all acts of violence, including all acts of terrorism, provocation, incitement and destruction." It further hailed the US-proposed initiative, the Roadmap for Peace, perhaps with the hope that such praise would tickle a soft spot in the US administration's heart.

Nonetheless, Negroponte looked as callous as he appeared last time when he vetoed another resolution condemning Israeli's killings of three UN workers in the West Bank and Gaza. They included Iain Hook, a British relief worker in Jenin, who was killed at pointblank after Israeli soldier "mistook" his mobile phone for a weapon. Negroponte justified his objection of the draft in Dec 20, 2002, by accusing the draft of being "one-sided" and not "conducive" to Middle East peace efforts.

If condemning the murder of UN workers is not "conducive" to peace, why did every UN member, at the Security Council and General Assembly "strongly" condemn the "terrorist" and "criminal" attack on the UN headquarters in Baghdad on August 19, 2003? Is there a time when the killing of UN personnel is permissive and a time when it is tabooed?

But if Negroponte was indeed critical of the resolution, which calls on a sovereign country to refrain from deporting or physically harming an elected leader of another nation, and if it was true that condemning the killings of UN workers is "not conducive" to peace, then why did the US veto the December 2001 resolution that called for the deployment of unarmed international observers to end the Middle East bloodshed?

The draft was put to a vote shortly after the Palestinian uprising exploded in the Occupied Territories, and was solely aimed at creating a barrier between both sides as a first step before resuming peace talks. Then, the number of people killed from both parties was minimal. Without the needed international intervention, the death toll has bloated, now standing at 2,599 Palestinians and 861 Israelis. If the US refrained for once from abusing the sacred right it possessed at the council, one has to wonder how many lives could have been saved.

From the 77 vetoes used by the US at the Security Council, 26 have been in attempt to cripple any tangible international role in the ongoing Middle East conflict. The US government has often sought to monopolize the role of the third party in the conflict. While suffocating any outside effort aimed at ending the conflict, it miserably failed itself in being an honest broker. This time, Negroponte took his country to a new low, refusing to openly reject the forced deportation or even murder of an elected leader. (Israel officially agreed to "remove" Arafat, a decision that meant, according to Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert either killing, exile or isolation of the Palestinian leader.)

Negroponte has failed, and most likely intentionally, to mention that the US veto had little to do with Israel's true intentions, the US' official stance from those intentions or the language of the resolution itself, whether explicitly pointing out Hamas or not. The pro-Israeli veto was a pre-calculated decision put into practice decades ago, but was officially declared in August 2002. And of course, who else but Negroponte would carry the good news? On August 02, Negroponte said that the US would veto any Middle East resolution that fails to condemn Palestinian terrorism, explicitly listing all Palestinian groups that Israel singled out as terrorist. 

The US decision of last year, hailed by Israel and pro-Israeli groups in the US as one that will "change the rules of the game", was a green light for Israel to do as it pleased without fearing any repercussions, even if mere words of condemnation by the international body. A spokesman for the Israeli mission at the UN, Ariel Milo celebrated the decision, saying that now Arabs are in the spotlight, not Israel.

"If they decide not to condemn Palestinian terrorism, then any resolution they come up with will be a nonstarter," Milo said. "The onus is on them to see if they're serious."

If Israel went ahead and murdered Arafat, to ensure the passing of a resolution that would condemn the murder, the Security Council would have to condemn Palestinian resistance as terrorist with an "explicit" mention of every organization that Israel requires. This is indeed the logic that Negroponte used when he carried out his government's wish by raising his hand high on Tuesday.

But what Negroponte and the US government behind him might have ignored is that the latest veto didn't only cripple any attempt to move forward in resolving the Middle East crisis. It further contributed to the growing reputation worldwide of the United States as a rogue state, a dishonest broker, and a biased party without any genuine interest in peace and stability in the Middle East.

Ramzy Baroud is a Palestinian-American journalist and editor-in-chief of The Palestine Chronicle online newspaper. His articles were published and quoted in newspapers around the world, including the Washington Post, the International Herald Tribune and the Guardian, among others. He is the editor of the anthology: "Searching Jenin: Eyewitness Accounts of the Israeli Invasion." Baroud is also a researcher for the Qatar-based al-Jazeera Net English.

To buy "Searching Jenin: Eyewitness Accounts of the Israeli Invasion" CLICK HERE


  Category: Americas, Faith & Spirituality
Views: 3290
 
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Older Comments:
RAFATULLAH FROM INDIA said:
The history is a testimony to the fact that many big empires who indulged in inflicting injustice to the mankind wre devastated by the unseen power of the Almighty and they could help them against their destruction inspite of having tremendous resource at their command.The same destruction is bound to happen with America as the law of Almighty never chnges only time is the factor. In the present time the unbelievable down fall of Russia is known to everybody.The time is not far off when the historians would identify that Jews were the cause of destruction of America as invasion of Afghanistan was the cause of the downfall of Russia. In changing the world scenario few decades is a very small time. Before punishing America God is punishing first muslims for their misdeeds commited by them over centuries and the greatest of them was that they did not discharge their duty towards the mankind for which they were raised. And one should not be surprised if the present Muslims are removed from the world scenario and other people are substtuted in their place.
2003-09-28

AZHAR FROM FRANCE said:
when the destruction of Phoaroh USA and its haman minister Isreal would begin , Can Allah send angel of Death to these two immediate bloody ppl , or may be they had a long life to destruct further bloodshed , anyway there is a road , there is an end , sad but truth , both go straight to fire , cool !!!
2003-09-27

YAHYA BERGUM FROM USA said:
I apologize for my previous "neutrality" concerning tolerance shown by U.S. officials towards the State of Israel's threats against Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat. I continue to have my own doubts about the ability of Yasser Arafat and his team, through what appears to be their current methodology, to bring about the prompt and sustainable liberation of Palestine. However, I feel that my earlier failure to call for the personal safety of Yasser Arafat, as well as for the personal safety of all other members of the Palestinian Authority, was indeed an error on my part. (Astagh-firullah)

May the Lord of the worlds will that peace be received by all concerned with Israel. (Assalamu alaikum)

--Yahya Bergum
2003-09-26

KOVITZ FROM TORONTO, CANADA said:
American foreign policy in the Middle East, especially toward Muslims/Arabs with bias toward Israeli and injustice to the Muslims, you don't have to be a member of the Al-Qaeda or the Hamas to be agitated.
2003-09-26

MOHAMMED NAUSHAD-UDDIN FROM INDIA said:
assalaam,
77 vetoes against a legitimate palastinian state, and american government expects full support from all arabs and muslims! fair expectations!!!

and ask why people should not like the fair americans, huh?

u have to have a seal of arrogance on your heart not to know the answer.
2003-09-25

HUSSAIN ALLI FROM SOUTH AFRICA said:
it is very predictable that only the American administration will have the gaul to veto any decision about Israel,because every one know's that they rely on the support of the Jewish lobby in America,until such time when the UN is disbanded and a new organistation not controlled by the American's will their be true justice in the world.

thank you.
2003-09-25

RICHARD FROM USA said:
Salaam Alaikum, I do agree with this author. The United States has proven itself time and again to be a dishonest broker in the middle east. I frankly feel that the US would let Israel get away with anything. Maybe even the use of their nuclear weapons. The US has proven themselves to be the mischeif makers.
2003-09-25

OMRAN FROM EARTH said:
Us reminds me of Pharoh and his people, God blessed them with alot of knowledge, beautiful country. What did they do in return they became enemy's to Allah and his cause. Arrgorance was one of their main disease. If the U.S goes on around the world being arrogrant ir-responsible with the power Allah has lend them, Allah will thek it away from them and just like Egypt he might replace them with other people ( just as he did in egypt).
2003-09-25

ABU ABDULLAH said:
For us, who are far from the USA, is difficult to see what the USA as a country gain out of this conspicuous support to Israel. Moreover, what do the people on the USA street view such support. I won't be surprised if most of them don't know much about it as none of the so called leading international media establishments such as CNN and BBC said much of the veto and its implication. Especially when compared with the noises they made when France wanted to use its veto before the bombing of Iraq. So much for balance news!
2003-09-25

AHMED FROM UK said:
Anybody familiar with Negroponte's history shouldnt be surprised. The man is Neocon wannabe, continuing the proud American tradition of supporting Israeli terror.
2003-09-25

YAHYA BERGUM FROM USA said:
Assalamu alaikum. So where was Security when fairly well organized demonstrators were video-recorded smashing windows while Parliament was in session?
2003-09-25