70 Days to Go

The Positive Effect of Pressure

By Sherwin Pomerantz

There are now 70 days to go before the scheduled opening of the UN General Assembly in New York and the possible vote on Palestinian statehood. This week we have seen the benefit of pressure when it is exerted in the right direction. Some examples follow.

• A rare visit from Prime Minister Netanyahu to Romania elicited a promise from the government there to oppose any unilateral vote for Palestinian statehood at the upcoming meeting of the UN General Assembly. (He did not fare quite as well in neighboring Bulgaria, but we are speaking here about successes.)

• After a great deal of international pressure the Netherlands this week also made known that they would vote against. This is a good indication of the weakening support of moderate European countries for the resolution, something that has surprised the Palestinian leadership.

• The sea flotilla to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza has all but disintegrated. Greece, under pressure from Israel, did not permit the boats docked there to leave and even arrested the captain of the US vessel when he tried to leave port after being warned not to do so.

• The alternate air flotilla which was schedule to deliver hundreds of Palestinian supporters to Ben Gurion Airport here beginning last night has also fizzled significantly. It seems that Israeli security authorities released a list to airlines flying to Israel of approximately 350 pro-Palestinian activists who they suspected would be travelling here for protest purposes. Many of those airlines, realizing that the people they were transporting would not be allowed into the country and would need to be returned to their countries of origin at the airlines` expense refused to let many of those people board. In Paris, for example, at DeGaulle Airport, 50 activists approached the Lufthansa terminal and were denied boarding. Similar events took place across Europe.

Clearly, as I have been saying for some weeks, pressure works and keeping quiet achieves nothing. As such, it is now more important than ever that as many people as possible write to the United Nations delegates stationed in New York. The message needs to be that we, private citizens of the world who care about the future of Israel, urge them not to vote for unilateral approval of a Palestinian state should this come to the floor of the UN in September.

We are doing this because we believe that the only path to peace in this region is negotiation between the parties involved and not through unilateral steps taken at the world body or anywhere else for that matter. The delegates need to know that there are thousands of people out there who care, who are concerned, and who want them to vote NO!

Towards that end, once again I am attaching the full list of UN delegates in New York, along with their addresses and, where we were able to find them, fax numbers and e mail addresses as well. The time to act is now. I am convinced that if each mission to the UN is flooded with this type of mail over the next 9 weeks, it will make many of them think again about their decision (should it be in favor of the motion) and probably make a good news story as well, which will help us.

British philosopher John Stuart Mill who died in 1873 is credited with the following insightful statement about inaction: “A person may cause evil to others not only by his actions, but by his inaction, and in either case he is justly accountable to them for the injury.” Words to the wise to be sure. Please write!