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THE EXTENSION OF LEGITIMACY TO THE “U.N. JENIN COMMISSION” PLAYS INTO THE HANDS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE AND OTHER SUPPORTERS OF THE PLO, while disappointing and weakening Israel’s friends in Washington. It bolsters the prestige of the UN, which is an anti-Israel organization, eroding Israel’s sovereignty and Israel’s posture of deterrence. It advances a major goal of the Arabs – the internationalization of their conflict with Israel.
PRESIDENT BUSH HAS DEMONSTRATED – SINCE THE 2000 CAMPAIGN – HIS NON-CHALANCE TOWARD THE U.N. AND HIS DISDAIN FOR U.S. PEACE FORCES. Vice President Cheney has supported the principle of unilateral military actions against Islamic terrorism and ballistic missiles, should Europe and the UN fail to join the US such a battle. Secretary Rumsfeld has recently reiterated his opposition to the involvement of American, multilateral or UN forces in the Arab-Israeli and Palestinian-Israeli conflicts. On the other hand, Secretary Powell, and Foggy Bottom’s bureaucracy, have promoted multi-lateralism headed – preferably- by the UN.
CONGRESS HAS APPROVED, IN RECENT YEARS, A SERIES OF RESOLUTIONS AND LEGISLATION CONDEMNING THE U.N. AND SUSPENDING FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE TO THE ORGANIZATION (22% of total UN budget, 27% of peace-keeping and 25% of UNRAW!). Public opinion polls confirm that most Americans are indifferent toward the U.N., or consider it an ungrateful and anti-US organization. UN hostility toward the US was demonstrated by the Durbin (South Africa) Conference, and by Kofi Anan’s relentless efforts to undermine sanctions against Saddam. Anti-UN. sentiments are particularly entrenched among conservative and republican voters, who constitute Bush’s political power base. In contrast, it is pro-UN sentiments, which have characterized the Department of State and Secretary of State Powell, a personal friend of Kofi Anan.
THE APPROVAL OF THE “U.N. JENIN COMMISSION” WOULD LEGITIMIZE THE U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION, WHICH INCLUDES LIBYA, SYRIA AND SUDAN, THREE TERRORIST STATES, ACCORDING TO THE U.S. ADMINISTRATION’S ANNUAL “GLOBAL PATTERN OF TERRORISM.” About 30% of the resolutions, issued by the Human Rights Commission during the past 35 years, are related to (and mostly condemning) Israel, while refraining from any criticism of the PLO/PA, Arab countries, North Korea, Cuba or China. UN structure does not allow Israel, the sole democracy in the Mideast, to be elected as a member of the commission. In fact, it required a brutal pressure by the U.S. – led by then Ass’t Secretary of State John Bolton – to rescind in 1991 the 1975 UN resolution, which equated Zionism to racism.
THE U.N. ALIGNMENT WITH PALESTINIAN TERRORISTS HAS BEEN FUELED BY ISRAEL’S OWN INDECISIVENESS TOWARD THE PLO/PA (enemy? partner? war? security coordination?), by the welcoming of Crown Prince Abdullah’s Plan (return of the 1948 refugees, withdrawal to the 1949 Lines and the re-partitioning of Jerusalem), by the initiative to convene a regional/international conference and by the support for a Palestinian state.
SOVEREIGN COUNTRIES DO NOT ALLOW FOREIGN ENTITIES – LET ALONE HOSTILE ENTITIES – TO INTERFERE IN THEIR OWN JUSTICE SYSTEM AND NATIONAL SECURITY. Belgium, Russia, NATO, England, Egypt, Turkey, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United States would not even consider a UN Commission investigating their wars in Congo, Chechnya, Yugoslavia, Ireland and in face of Islamic and Kurdish terrorism, Baader Meinhoff, Red Brigades, ETA, Taliban (since 2001), Iraq (since 1991), Libya (1986), Panama (1989) and Grenada (1986).
ISRAEL’S ACCEPTANCE – AND U.S. SUPPORT – OF THE “U.N. JENIN COMMISSION” WOULD DEAL A MAJOR BLOW TO THE CAUSE OF TRUTH, AND WOULD SEVERELY ADVANCE THE CAUSE OF MORAL EQUIVALENCE. It would harm Israel’s own sovereignty, would zig-zag US war on terrorism, would energize Palestinian terrorism and its anti-US allies, would enhance the influence of anti-US elements at the UN, and could constitute a “warm-up show” for the internationalization of the Arab-Israeli conflict – the wet dream of the Arabs.
WHILE THERE COULD BE A SHORT-TERM PRICE PAID, BY ISRAEL AND THE U.S., FOR DEFEATING THE ILL-ADVISED “U.N. JENIN COMMISSION” (and since when should one expect a Free Lunch?!), THE LONG-TERM COST OF LEGITIMIZING SUCH A COMMISSION WOULD BE MUCH MORE DEVASTATING.