9 - 15 July 1998
Issue No.385
|
Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 9 - 15 July 1998 Issue No.385 |
||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Current issue | Previous issue | Site map | ||
The right timeThe UN General Assembly's decision to upgrade the status of the PLO mission to that of a non-voting member on Tuesday represents a small victory for the Palestinians on their path towards achieving their legitimate rights to self-determination and an independent state. The "big victory", though, as Palestine's representative at the UN Nasser El-Kidwa said, will be when his country gets its full membership rights.The decision, however, remains an important step in the right direction and reflects the wide support the Palestinian cause enjoys among almost every other country in the world. When 124 nations vote in favour of the decision and only four against -- Israel, the US, Micronesia and the Marshall Islands -- neither Tel Aviv nor Washington can continue to ignore the message, that it is they who are thwarting the will of the international community by intentionally ignoring the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people who have lived under a racist occupation for 50 years. Predictably, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu tried to play down the importance of the vote, displaying once again his willingness to fly in the face of international opinion. But if such stand was expected from the right-wing Likud leader who has done nothing but damage to the peace process since coming to power two years ago, the position of the US remains puzzling. On the one hand, Washington claims to champion the cause of human rights yet appears equally determined to undermine those rights if they happen to be claimed by Arabs. Over 120 million Arabs, 1 billion Muslims and most of the rest of the world say yes to a Palestinian state. Yet the US insists that this is the "wrong resolution at the wrong time." But surely there could be no more appropriate time to deliver such a message than when the peace process has died on its feet? The whole world wants peace in the Middle East. For any peace to be meaningful, it must be just and fair. This, as the UN General Assembly vote indicates, can be achieved only with the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. The world has voiced almost unanimous support for the "wrong resolution at the wrong time". When, one wonders, will those who opposed it think the time right?
|