16 Days to Go – Is The Effort Against the UN Vote for Palestinian Statehood Pointless?

By Sherwin Pomerantz

With 16 days to the opening of the 66th Regular Session of the UN General Assembly on September 13th and the vote to grant the Palestinians statehood, Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, Ron Prossor, has come out publicly with an admission that the UN battle is probably lost.

In a statement published in this morning’s papers here he is quoted in a classified cable to Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs as follows: “The maximum that we can hope to gain [at the UN vote] is for a group of states who will abstain or be absent during the vote.” He added that his comments were based on more than 60 meetings he had held during the past few weeks with his colleagues at the UN, finishing off with “Only a few countries will vote against the Palestinian initiative.” Foreign Ministry sources estimate that 130-140 countries will vote in favor of the motion when it comes to the floor of the General Assembly.

As things look right now, Prime Minister Netanyahu will not go to New York to speak on behalf of Israel but, instead, will probably ask President Shimon Peres to do the honors as he is more likely to present a moderate and conciliatory face to the world body (excluding those, of course, who will probably leave the room as soon as he gets up to speak).

I believe that our efforts to lobby the UN delegates must continue even in the face of this assessment by someone for whom I have the utmost respect. Why? Not only because, as Yogi Berra said, “it ain’t over ‘til the fat lady sings” but more importantly, because our voices need to be heard. Remember, that the bashing of Israel continues worldwide and we simply do not have the luxury of stopping the pressure, even if it may not do any good in the short term.

Last week, for example, Iran celebrated Quds Day, which is the day towards the end of Ramadan on which they schedule their annual Jerusalem solidarity rally. At that event, General Naghdi, the head of the Baseej organization (volunteers committed to enforce Islamic behaviour, crush protests, mete out beatings, carry out torture and extra-judicial executions [see http://middleeast.about.com/od/iran/f/basij-vigilantes.htm]) opined:

"We recommend to the Zionists to pack their furniture and return to their countries. And if they really insist on staying, they should know that a time will come that they will not even have time to pack their suitcases."

After which of course, the President of Iran went on to say:

"Do not think that your existence (i.e. Israel) will be recognized with the recognition of the Palestinian state. You have no place in our region and among our nations, and you will not be able to continue your ignominious life on even a small part of the Palestinian territories."

He then called for the annihilation of Israel at all costs and, unable to resist the opportunity to do so, once again called the holocaust a lie.

And if all of this is not bad enough, along comes regular Jerusalem Post op-ed writer Larry Derfner who posted the following to his blog on August 21st:

"I think a lot of people who realize that the occupation is wrong also realize that the Palestinians have the right to resist it – to use violence against Israelis, even to kill Israelis, especially when Israel is showing zero willingness to end the occupation, which has been the case since the Netanyahu government took over (among other times in the past)."

He, of course, later in the post goes on to say the “while I think the Palestinians have the right to use terrorism against us, I don’t want them to use it, I don’t want to see Israelis killed and, as an Israeli, I would do whatever was necessary to stop a Palestinian, oppressed or not, from killing one of my countrymen.” Too late Derfner, you can be sure that the earlier statement is the one that the anti-Israel forces will be quoting saying that even well respected Israelis believe terrorism is justifiable. Then he ends with the even more galling statement “Writing this is not treason. It is an attempt at patriotism.”

So the venom continues and whatever actually happens at the UN, the tension will not subside, peace will not come to this part of the world, and anti-Semitism will continue its attraction for all too many people with whom we share this planet. As such, we have no alternative but to keep the flame of passion for our rights to this land on a very high setting and to seize every opportunity to call the world’s attention to our commitment never to be forced from our homes. So please, make your voices heard at every opportunity.