By Dr Hikmat Ajjuri, Ambassador of the state of Palestine to Ireland, Dublin
The whole world watched the latest Israeli elections on the 22nd January this year. In my opinion, it was a vote of no confidence in the historic leading parties in Israel, the Likud and the Labour. Voting for the newly emerged parties reflects also the state of confusion among Israeli society stemming from the overall state of fear which is created by the Zionist philosophy in order to sustain its hegemonic mandate. To sustain the requisite inordinate level of fear, Netanyahu for the past few years has created a monster called the “Iranian nuclear weapon”. It is in fact an attempt to distract the world’s attention from the main issue, which is the Israeli Palestinian conflict.
President Obama has said that “Iran poses a short-term threat to Israel’s survival; Israel’s own behaviour poses a long-term one”. 15th January 2013
In utter contrast, Israel, the occupying power, is the only country in the Middle East that possesses Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) including nuclear weapons. These weapons are an immediate threat to peace in the region and can only lead to a further arms race with the overwhelming weight of military hardware presently in the possession of Israel. The military supremacy of Israel has so far been sustained by a strategic alliance with the US.
This alliance means that the US supplies Israel unconditionally, with all kinds of weapons, and in addition Israel is the recipient of approximately 30% of America’s total foreign aid and 100% of diplomatic and the political support which Israel needs to cover up all its atrocities. So far more than 42 vetoes have been exercised by the US government at the UN Security council with the express purpose of thwarting the consequences and liabilities which would arise for Israel if it was brought before the International Court of Justice. The US use of its UN vetoes permits Israel to get away with its wrong doings, aggressions, target assassinations, demolition of houses, uprooting trees and stealing Palestinian lands on which Israel has built more than 140 settlements and 100 outposts. Israel has so far illegally transferred more than 500,000 Jewish settlers onto Palestinian lands. Israel with this unconditional US support has been licenced and encouraged to behave as being above international law.
President Obama told the world in his speech in Cairo in May 2009 that the Israeli settlements constitute the main obstacle to peace in the Holy Land.
Despite this speech and the international consensus on the illegalities of Israel’s settlement activities, President Obama’s administration vetoed a Security Council resolution condemning the Israeli settlement activities.
This kind of support and duplicitous diplomacy has encouraged Israel to ignore all international laws and laws of humanity. On 31st January this year a United Nations fact finding mission said that Israeli settlements are illegal and called on Israel to cease settlement expansion without pre-condition and immediately withdraw all settlers from the Occupied Palestinian territories.
For the past 5 years, Israel conducted three wars against the people of Gaza who are under the iron heel of Israeli military occupation. All of these wars were conducted just a few weeks prior to Israeli elections which only serves to demonstrate that Israel is a state virtually controlled by its army. Wars wash out political sins.
