October 15, 2009

Isn’t there something seriously wrong with our world when a people who have been wronged for over a half-century are treated as pariahs? Wherever the Palestinians turn, they find every door shut. Whatever they do to obtain even a fraction of their rights, they face insurmountable obstacles. Time and time again, they pursue international justice only to discover that it doesn’t exist for them. Recognized legal channels lead them nowhere. Promises made that their own state is on the horizon are consistently broken. When, in frustration, they turn to violence, they are branded as terrorists.

Events earlier this month illustrate just how hopeless their situation truly is. That was when their own leader Mahmoud Abbas let them down. Under heavy pressure from the United States, the Palestinian president chose to delay a UN Security Council vote on the Goldstone report recommending Israel’s referral to the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes committed during Operation Cast Lead.

According to reports, President Abbas conceded to the weight of Washington’s influence, without prior discussion with Prime Minister Salam Fayyad or consultations with members of the PLO leadership, fearful of repercussions that might endanger the peace process. The question is what peace process?

Certainly, US President Barack Obama’s recent photo-op with Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not constitute real progress. Like many before him Obama called for an end to the cycle of violence and for final status negotiations to begin soon. If you feel like yawning, go ahead!

Not only has the carefully compiled report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict been shelved, last late last month, the British Foreign Office engaged in diplomatic shenanigans so that Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak could receive immunity from prosecution while on a private visit to London with his wife.

British lawyers acting on behalf of 16 Palestinians had petitioned a Magistrates Court to approve an arrest warrant for Barak in connection with breaches of the Geneva Conventions and for possible war crimes committed in Gaza earlier this year.

However, rather than maintain the court’s independence, the judge in question contacted the Foreign Office for advice. Following a flurry of communications between British and Israeli officials, it was announced that Barak was in the UK on official business and, therefore, held diplomatic immunity.

Indeed, a precedent had already been set in 2004 when a British court granted immunity to Israel’s then Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz even though existing rules protected only foreign heads of state and their foreign ministers. Britain also has a shameful record of tipping off Israelis who risk arrest in England or Wales whose courts accept the concept of universal jurisdiction," enabling them to try foreign nationals for war crimes or crimes against humanity committed abroad. In 2007, the former head of Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, Avi Dichter, was conveniently warned off from traveling to London where he risked arrest for war crimes in connection with a failed assassination attempt that robbed civilian residents of Gaza, including children, of their lives.

Two years earlier, in 2005, senior Israeli Gen. Doron Almog was told not to disembark from an El Al flight that had landed at London’s Heathrow Airport because the Metropolitan Police were waiting for him with an arrest warrant. Legally, the police were entitled to board the plane as long as it stood on sovereign British soil, but chose not to do so as they feared armed confrontation with air marshals or the general’s security detail.

Well, that’s their story and they’re sticking to it. They certainly had no compunction about detaining the former Chilean dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet in 1998, even though he had helped Britain during the Falklands War.

So there you have it! Heaven forbid alleged Israeli war criminals should be held to account. Britain, which has always prided itself on its legal system and respect for human rights, actually colludes with Israel to ensure its officials escape prosecution. And, worse, the United Nations cheerfully ignores Israel’s flouting of Security Council Resolutions and is more than willing to bin its own investigations into Israel’s crimes.

Where does this sorry state of affairs leave the Palestinian people? The answer is precisely nowhere. When they are consistently failed by international bodies and the international legal system, is it any wonder that they have resorted to other methods on occasions?

At the root of this mess is the protective umbrella with which America unconditionally shields its Middle East ally. As long as the US has the power of veto within the UN Security Council, Israel can do what it pleases with impunity. At the same time, Britain cannot hold Israelis to account without risking its special relationship with Washington.

Those who believed that President Obama would make a difference are sorely disappointed. He has turned out to be a man of fine words and little action. Indeed, like his predecessors, he is perpetuating his country’s hated double standards. While he calls for a nuclear-free Middle East and wags his finger at Iran for enriching uranium on the one hand, he blesses Israel’s policy of so-called nuclear ambiguity on the other.

In the meantime, the Palestinians are no closer to having their own state than they ever were. The illegal apartheid wall still snakes through the West Bank. Illegal Israeli colonies are still being expanded and Gaza is still being illegally blockaded. What’s more, the international community’s failure to hold Israel to account for war crimes gives it virtual carte blanche to launch more attacks.

But first things first; the Palestinians must get their own house in order. Hamas and Fatah must resolve their differences and unite behind a strong leader who represents the interests of all Palestinians without pandering to Western interests. The only road to peace will appear when all Palestinians speak with one voice and one message that is loudly echoed by their Arab friends.

Linda S. Heard is a British specialist writer on Middle East affairs. She welcomes feedback and can be contacted by email at heardonthegrapevines@yahoo.co.uk.