 |
Al-Ahram Weekly 11 - 17 November 1999 Issue No. 455 
|
||
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
| ||
|
Al-Ahram Weekly 11 - 17 November 1999 Issue No. 455
|
||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
| ||
Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Profile Travel Books Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Logical conclusions
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak has stated repeatedly that UN Security Council Resolution 242 does not apply to occupied Palestinian territories. This interpretation can only confirm that the Israeli premier does not really want peace with his neighbours.For nearly three decades, Israel used a linguistic loophole to insist that Resolution 242 called for withdrawal from "territories" occupied in 1967, but did not define the extent of that withdrawal. The resolution begins by recalling the international principle of the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war, and others obliging the occupying power not to carry out any demographic or geographic changes in the territories it holds by force. In other words, Israel, under international law, must withdraw from all Arab territories occupied by force following the 1967 War. This was the case of Sinai, which Israel fully evacuated in 1982; the same applies to Gaza and the West Bank, including Jerusalem, as well as the Golan Heights.
Israel, however, has not been known to respect international law or UN resolutions. It has also historically adopted a hostile attitude towards the UN -- for good reason: it realises that the majority of the General Assembly members back the Arabs' just and legitimate demands.
The US and other Western powers have led the trend calling for international intervention to implement Security Council resolutions and force countries that pose a threat to the security of any region to stop their aggressive behaviour. These same powers, however, have never admitted that Israeli aggression is a very good example of a situation in which such international pressure is necessary.
If Palestinians are not given back their land, which Israel occupied in 1967, and if they are not able to establish their own state, peace and stability will never be achieved. This state has to be a real one, not discontinued fragments of territories -- an echo of the ugly racist apartheid regime that prevailed in South Africa. The Palestinians are entitled to feel that justice has been done, and this will not be the case if Barak refuses to acknowledge the illegality of Israeli settlement activity and the necessity of a Palestinian state.
