U.N. Accused of Opaque Selection Process for Top Officials

March 28, 2013 by

Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS

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Ban Ki-moon’s UNCTAD pick will be routinely endorsed by the 193-member General Assembly, which has never rejected a nomination from a secretary-general. Credit: UN Photo/Mark Garten

Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 28 (IPS) – - The Geneva-based U.N. Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), described as a key forum for developing nations on issues relating to trade, investment and development, will have a new secretary-general come September.As befits a longstanding tradition of geographical rotation, the next head should come from Africa.

At least four Africans, including a former trade minister from Zambia, are feverishly lobbying for the prestigious job.

But Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who is vested with the power to nominate the new UNCTAD chief, heads an opaque selection process where he refuses to even name a short-list of candidates, as with all other senior appointments in the world body.

Ban’s pick will be routinely endorsed by the 193-member General Assembly, which has never rejected a nomination from a secretary-general.

Sir Richard Jolly, a former deputy executive director of the U.N. children’s agency UNICEF, told IPS, "There is a need for some process of open hearing and interview of the best qualified potential candidates, prior to and as a step towards the decision by the secretary-general."

He said possible ways this could be done were set out in a 1996 Dag Hammarskjold publication by two senior U.N. officials, Brian Urquhart and Erskine Childers, titled " A World in Need of Leadership: Tomorrow’s United Nations- a Fresh Appraisal".

"I would add that given the importance of choosing someone with the professional range and awareness of how asymmetries of political and economic power operate in trade and development, the interviewing group should include some distinguished economists with knowledge, experience and reputation in this area," he added.

He singled out Joseph Stiglitz, professor at Columbia University and the 2001 Nobel Prize winner for Economics, and Jose Antonio Ocampo, former finance minister of Colombia and ex-U.N. under-secretary-general for economic and social affairs, as good examples of potential members of an interview panel.

As Urquhart and Childers explained, such a process of open hearings and interview, need not pre-empt the final decision by the secretary-general but it would help narrow the field to a small number of suitable and outstanding candidates and add transparency and objectivity to the whole process, said Sir Richard, currently honorary professor and research associate at the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex in the UK.

Jan Pronk, a former three-term Dutch minister of development cooperation and a former UNCTAD assistant secretary-general, told IPS, "In my view, (and under) the present phase of globalisation and (economic) crisis, the new secretary-general of UNCTAD should be a person who will carry weight in discussions with leaders of other international organisations, which – contrary to the UNCTAD secretary-general – have decision-making powers.

"He/she should in particular be able to voice the concerns of weaker developing countries, rather than emerging economies," said Pronk, currently professor of theory and practice of international development at the International Institute of Social Studies in The Hague, Netherlands.

The latter, much more than one or two decades ago, have already gained influence both in the Bretton Woods institutions – namely, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund – and in the World Trade Organisation (WTO), he said.

Asked for his comments, U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq, told IPS, "We don’t comment on appointment processes, so I won’t do that this time, either.

"I haven’t heard about any change in this process from our normal one," he added.

Both Sir Richard and Pronk are part of a group of nearly 150 academics, former senior U.N. officials, ranking diplomats and political decision-makers who are calling for "an intellectually outstanding personality as the new leader of UNCTAD" when the current head, Supachai Panitchpakdi of Thailand, completes his term of office in August.

In an open letter to Ban, the group says the selection is crucial, especially at this time of global economic uncertainty.

"We very strongly urge that the next Secretary-General of UNCTAD, in addition to all the necessary experience, knowledge and management abilities, should have in particular the capacity and courage for independent thought," the letter says.

"It is this characteristic that has been the distinguishing factor among the eminent persons who have held the post over nearly 50 years of UNCTAD’s existence.

"We have an interest in the outcome of this matter," the letter further states, "but no interest in a particular candidate."

"We all fervently believe in the value to the international community, particularly developing countries, of ensuring a strong and credible UNCTAD that serves to focus inter-governmental debates on how the workings of the global economy affect developing countries."

Yilmaz Akyuz, chief economist at the Geneva-based South Centre and former Director and Chief Economist at UNCTAD, regretted there is no transparency in U.N. appointments compared with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) or the WTO, where candidates are known publicly, interviewed and shortlisted.

He said no secretary-general has taken an UNCTAD candidate to the General Assembly without securing the support of 132-member Group of 77 developing countries (G77).

"And never more than one candidate. It is all agreed before it is taken to the General Assembly," he told IPS.

"And if he cannot get agreement, the process is delayed. We were without a secretary-general in UNCTAD for more than a year after Ken Dadzie left in 1994," he added.

A G77 source told IPS that Ban has so far not consulted the Group about a candidate or candidates for the UNCTAD job.

John Burley, a former UNCTAD director and coordinator of the open letter, told IPS there has been no official response to the collective letter.

"The letter has been posted on a number of websites and the reaction is positive," he added.

He found it "incongruous" that the declared candidates for the post of WTO director general are invited to make presentations to an informal meeting of the WTO General Council, and thereafter hold a WTO-sponsored press conference, "whereas the U.N. hides the process."

The last seven UNCTAD heads include: Raul Prebisch (Argentina), Manuel Perez-Guerrero (Venezuela), Gamani Corea (Sri Lanka), Alistair McIntyre (Grenada), Ken Dadzie (Ghana), Carlos Fortin (Chile) and Rubens Ricupero (Brazil).

All rights reserved, IPS – Inter Press Service, 2013.

This article may not be republished, broadcast, framed, or redistributed without the written permission of IPS – Inter Press Service. Republication of this material without permission from IPS, the copyright holder, constitutes a violation of United States and international copyright laws and may result in legal action.


Filed Under: Diplomacy, Report Tagged With:

Q&A: FGM Is About Culture, Not Religion

February 7, 2013 by

Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS

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Babatunde Osotimehin, Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Credit: UN Photo/Paulo Filgueiras

Kitty Stapp

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 07 (IPS) – The fight against female genital mutilation and cutting (FGM/C) continues to gain traction around the world.On Wednesday, the United Nations observed the annual Day of Zero Tolerance for FGM/C, an act that is shocking and inhumane to much of the world but remains a tradition among a significant minority.

This year’s observance is particularly momentous after the General Assembly’s December 2012 unanimous adoption of the resolution on "Intensifying Global Efforts for the Elimination of Female Genital Mutilations", which U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA) Executive Director Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin says "speaks volumes to the world’s commitment" and is "the greatest testimony to the work we do".

An estimated 140 million women and girls in the world – 120 million concentrated in 29 African and Middle Eastern countries – are living with FGM/C, which, in addition to being excruciatingly painful, can result in infection, cysts, infertility, childbirth complications, and the need for corrective surgery.

IPS correspondent Marzieh Goudarzi spoke with Dr. Osotimehin on UNFPA’s role in the global fight against FMG/C. Excerpts follow.

Q: According to data from the World Health Organisation, FGM/C-affected communities exist in northern, northeastern, and western Africa and in some Middle Eastern and Asian countries. FGM/C is also practiced in immigrant communities from these countries living in other parts of the world. Are there common elements among these communities that allow FGM/C to continue?

A: It is difficult to find a common thread, but I would like to suggest that it is more cultural than anything else. I do not think it is religion. What UNFPA has done with our partner, UNICEF, is to engage communities across those regions that you mentioned and persuade them that FGM/C has no medical benefits at all and that, for a fact, it causes damage to women and girls physically, psychologically, and emotionally.

Q: Can you discuss some specific mechanisms employed by UNFPA and UNICEF to bring about change?

A: On the ground, community dialogue, making sure we connect directly to the community, and making sure we educate them about the harmful effects of FGM/C, are all crucial. We do this with community leaders, religious leaders, and the women, especially the elderly women, as well as the practitioners themselves, who are engaged in this practice. For some, it has been like this for generations so you have to try and shift them away from that sort of harmful tradition.

We are also encouraging them to abandon FGM/C and we see great success in that area. In fact, a total of 1,775 communities across Africa publicly declared their commitment to end female genital mutilation and cutting. That was very gratifying. We have also worked in countries to put in place a legal system and laws to penalise the practice. Thirty-four African countries that have done this.

Q: To what extent does the UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme for the Acceleration of the Abandonment of FGM/C work directly with local implementers on the ground in FGM/C-affected countries? Who are the key local implementers?

A: The truth of the matter is that we at UNFPA and UNICEF work in countries to provide assistance, support, and advocacy to governments and to civil society. So we see that "tripartite" as an essential to what we do. We don’t do it all by ourselves because of sustainability issues.

You have to build a whole army of stakeholders on the ground, particularly when you do community work, which will consist of local leaders and civil society, to be able to sustain the advocacy and to ensure that communities go forth from where they are now and are able to maintain that pattern.

Q: What is UNFPA/UNICEF’s strategy in approaching a sensitive issue like FGM/C, which communities see as rooted in cultural or religious tradition, and how do you engage communities and community leaders who hold these beliefs while actively working to abolish the practice of FGM/C?

A: We go into communities, first of all, to understand communities. UNFPA initiates community dialogue with interlocutors that have integrity within the community, with mutual respect from both sides, to understand why they do the things they do. We then explain to them that these are things we believe we have to let go because of their consequences, and demonstrate quite clearly to them why that is so.

It takes some time for them to change what has been a part of their culture for years and years. However, this can be done with persistent and continuous engagement, honesty of purpose, and the ability to generate "champions" on the ground who will impact their communities. This is the basis of our success on the ground.

Q: Recent data shows that since the establishment of the UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme in 2008, nearly 10,000 communities in 15 countries, representing about eight million people, have renounced FGM/C. UNICEF data from 2012 shows that younger women and girls have lower rates of FGM/C than their older counterparts. Looking ahead, what has worked for the countries that are making progress and how will UNFPA and UNICEF continue their work on this issue?

A: Going forth, we want to continue to ensure that we build capacity on the ground, and also ensure that we identify real "champions" who will work on the ground. Sustainability of (the programme) is in community ownership… and in making sure we have data which is reliable, that enables us to track the progress we make and give us a better on handle on what we see.

We have trained about 88,000 health providers and established 15 medical and paramedical schools just to make sure that this is not something which is going to regress.

If the present trend continues, there will still be as many as 30 million girls below the age of 15 that will still be at risk. We need to continue to give visibility to the issue to ensure that we can avoid the unfortunate extent of girls being cut.

All rights reserved, IPS – Inter Press Service, 2013.

This article may not be republished, broadcast, framed, or redistributed without the written permission of IPS – Inter Press Service. Republication of this material without permission from IPS, the copyright holder, constitutes a violation of United States and international copyright laws and may result in legal action.


Filed Under: Culture, Diplomacy, Gender, Human Rights, Interview Tagged With: , ,

"Drone" a Dirty Word in the U.N. Lexicon

February 7, 2013 by

Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS

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Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 07 (IPS) – The "drone", one of the eminently controversial lethal weapons deployed by the United States in its war against terrorism, is obviously a dirty word in the U.N. lexicon.So when Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Herve Ladsous was asked about U.N. plans to use drones in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), he demurred.

"I would not use the word drones," he told reporters Wednesday, opting for a military euphemism: "unmanned aerial vehicles" (UAVs).

Ladsous said the United Nations plans to use "unarmed UAVs" only for surveillance purposes – but with the express permission of the government of DRC and neighbouring countries.

"We will see how this experiment works," he said, adding that the United Nations will be "open" to sharing whatever intelligence it gathers with regional bodies in Africa, besides U.N. force commanders on the ground.

The "green light" for the use of unarmed drones in DRC – a country battling a violent insurgency – was given by the 15-member Security Council last November, and is aimed at monitoring the movement of armed groups by the 17,500-strong U.N. Organisation Stabilisation Mission in DRC (MONUSCO).

But some U.N. diplomats fear that U.N. drones may eventually be armed, if and when the conflict in DRC takes a turn for the worse.

The drones used by the United States are fully armed and have resulted in the killings of both suspected terrorists and civilians in countries such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, and Yemen.

According to published reports, more than 40 countries either deploy or manufacture drones.

Larry Dickerson, defence systems analyst at Forecast International, a U.S. defence marketing research firm, told IPS that besides the United States, there is a very long list of countries manufacturing these UAVs.

These countries include U.K., Israel, France, Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, Canada, Greece, Bulgaria, Spain, Italy, Russia, China, South Korea, Austria, India, South Africa, Japan and Singapore.

Ben Emmerson, a British lawyer and U.N. special rapporteur for human rights and counterterrorism, is in the process of preparing an investigative report on the use of drones.

He is focusing on 25 drone strikes, specifically in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, and the Palestinian territories (by Israeli drones), where these attacks have reportedly resulted in civilian deaths.

The report is expected to be presented to the General Assembly next October or November.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has already expressed "concern" on the use of armed drones for targeted killings, "as it raises questions about compliance with the fundamental principle of distinction between combatants and non-combatants."

Associate U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters last month that drone attacks have also reportedly caused "substantial casualties, raising questions about the ability to ensure full compliance with the principle of proportionality".

He said the secretary-general has asked relevant member states to be transparent about the circumstances in which drones are used, and the means by which they ensure that attacks involving drones comply with international law.

According to Amnesty International, there have been more than 300 drone strikes in Pakistan alone over the last few years, which have killed both civilians as well as suspected militants.

Responding to a report that the administration of President Barack Obama was finalising guidelines for "targeted killings" by drones, Susan Lee, Amnesty’s Americas programme director, said bluntly: "There already exists a rulebook for these issues: it is called international law."

Any policy on so-called targeted killings by the U.S. government, she said, should not only be fully disclosed, but must comply with international law.

To date, the justifications publicly offered by senior Obama administration officials have shown only that U.S. government policy appears to permit extrajudicial executions in violation of international law, Lee added.

Asked how far behind are China and Russia in deploying drones in conflict situations, Dickerson told IPS that both countries are increasing their UAV inventories, "but remain far behind the United States in terms of numbers fielded and the sophistication of these systems."

"Neither have the battlefield experience in the operation of UAVs that the U.S. military gained over the last 10 years," he said.

Dickerson also said that the United States has the largest market share and produces more UAVs than any other country in the world.

He said the worldwide market for UAVs is worth a staggering 70.9 billion dollars over the next 10 years: 39.2 billion dollars related to the production of these systems; 28.7 billion dollars for research and development spending; and around 3.0 billion dollars for UAV services contracts.

All rights reserved, IPS – Inter Press Service, 2013.

This article may not be republished, broadcast, framed, or redistributed without the written permission of IPS – Inter Press Service. Republication of this material without permission from IPS, the copyright holder, constitutes a violation of United States and international copyright laws and may result in legal action.


Filed Under: Conflict, Geopolitics, Human Rights, Lead, Politics, Security, United States Tagged With: , , ,

Rio Summit’s Legacy Still a Question Mark

September 14, 2012 by

Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS

Zoha Arshad

WASHINGTON, Sep 14 (IPS) – Academics gathered in Washington on Wednesday suggested that the mixed experience at the U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development, held in Rio de Janeiro in June, has increased the importance of citizen engagement and consumer accountability in issues of environment, renewable energy and sustainability.At a panel discussion, participants explored why there had been such a lack of progress after the June conference, known as Rio+20, one of the largest international summits on the issue in decades.

Particular emphasis was also paid to the fact that the private sector, particularly large-scale corporations, was being allowed to make sustainability-related promises and voluntary commitments without being held accountable for those pledges.

“The one commodity that politicians care about are people, and if people care the politicians will follow,” Michelle Lapinski, the director of corporate practices at the Nature Conservancy, an advocacy group, said Wednesday. “People should mobilise, demand a change and ask what’s happening about the future of sustainable development.”

Lapinski believes not only that consumers can alter the behaviour of companies, but that companies that cave in to consumer pressure will ultimately lead by example, setting trends for other companies to follow.

An example of corporations doing their part for the environment is PUMA, which published an environment-focused profit-and-loss report every quarter. The group as a whole agreed with Lapinski’s analysis, calling attention to Chevron, whose entire public relations campaign revolves around sustainable development and renewable energy.

Twenty years ago, the participants pointed out, this would have been unimaginable.

As with government, citizen pressure holds great potential over corporations.

“If people go on a particular website and saw that Coca-Cola promised A, B and C, and haven’t delivered, that’s a very good basis for campaigns, for boycotts,” Reid Detchon, the vice-president for energy and climate at the United Nations Foundation, said. “They have to believe someone is watching – you have to hold (corporations’) feet to the fire.”

This concept of monitoring progress is why Jacob Scherr, the director of strategy and advocacy at the Natural Resources Defense Council, a research and watchdog group, is optimistic about the future, even after realising the lukewarm success of the Rio summit.

Scherr’s project, cloudofcommitments.com, is specifically designed to use social media to get the youth involved, to get their voices heard, and to make sure that they hold big corporations, business leaders and politicians accountable.

“The politicians didn’t feel pressured to act at the Rio summit,” Scherr said. “The people didn’t make them feel the pressure, but there were lots of young people who wanted to be heard. There were young business leaders with sustainable development plans and economic plans that need to be put out there and shared.”

Social media may hold out promise in this regard, particularly as a way to promote activism among the youth. Pop bands such as Linkin Park have also pledged support for sustainable development initiatives, with the power to mobilise tens of millions of followers into action.

Participants at Wednesday’s discussion also pointed to the new collaboration between the World Bank and the United Nations, which are co-chairing a new joint committee on sustainable development.

Still, many suggest, the issue will come down to citizen participation and consumer responsibility, initiatives hold out the promise of force a change in corporate culture, at least over time.

“Let’s face it. Our reality is we’ve been buying and selling nature for years – corporations do it, and now individuals do it,” Lapinski said, suggesting that the only real change that can be introduced on how corporations view their profits – the nature of how the transaction takes place.

If Coca-Cola uses water, she says, it needs to take the dual responsibility of giving back to nature and making a profit.

All of the participants emphasised that there will be no miracle solutions to the issue of sustainability.

But Scherr warns that the world doesn’t have another two or three decades to wake up and realise that the depletion of natural resources, waste dumping, and deforestation have almost killed the planet.

All rights reserved, IPS – Inter Press Service, 2012.

This article may not be republished, broadcast, framed, or redistributed without the written permission of IPS – Inter Press Service. Republication of this material without permission from IPS, the copyright holder, constitutes a violation of United States and international copyright laws and may result in legal action.


Filed Under: Development, Diplomacy, Environment Tagged With: ,

Non-Aligned Nations Face New Challenges

August 27, 2012 by

Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IDN

By Ernest Corea*

IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis

http://www.indepthnews.net/

WASHINGTON (IDN) – UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s decision to attend the sixteenth summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM16) in Tehran from August 26 to 31follows the precedent set by his predecessors and reaffirms the interlinked relationship between the UN and NAM.

NAM has been described as the largest politically-oriented body in the world, second in membership to the Group of 77 and China. Most of NAM’s members are UN members as well. Issues explored by NAM have been and are on the UN agenda too, and in several instances the positions taken by NAM, although sometimes opposed in other forums, have prevailed at the UN.

The Secretary-General’s judgment that he should attend the summit effectively dismissed suggestions that he should not do so, because of its location – which was determined and announced three years ago when the previous NAM summit was held in Sharm el-Sheikh (Egypt).

Confirming the universality of the Secretary-General’s role, and its independence from bilateral spats, the Ban’s spokesman said that he takes "seriously" his "responsibility and that of the UN to pursue diplomatic engagement with all of the world body’s Member States, in the interest of peacefully addressing vital matters of peace and security."

If that wasn’t a sufficiently strong rejection of the view that Ban should distance himself from the NAM summit, the spokesman added: "The Secretary-General looks forward to the Summit as an opportunity to work with the participating Heads of State and Government, including the host country, towards solutions on issues that are central to the global agenda including follow-up to the Rio+20 Conference on sustainable development, disarmament, conflict prevention, and support for countries in transition,”

A hefty list, but an exemplary approach by the Secretary-General to the opportunities provided by the NAM summit. And yet, as the legendary Yogi Berra would have said: "it’s déjà vu all over again."

Many concerns

Thirty three years ago, when the sixth NAM summit was held in Cuba, an assortment of hand-wringing observers considered the location of the event sinister. A participating foreign minister would tell any of his colleagues who cared to listen that they were all like passengers at a railway station who were about to board a train, but were being kept in the dark by the engine driver as to the destination he had chosen for them. Meanwhile, a head of government wrote to a colleague participating in the summit cautioning him that nothing should be done to hurt "our friends the Americans."

Adding to the concerns was a claim by political and media commentators that the Soviet Union had surreptitiously introduced a brigade of troops into Cuba in advance of the summit – for what purpose, nobody could tell. Groups of reporters covering the summit were searching in vain for the elusive brigade. It turned out that the Soviet troops had been stationed near Havana from 1972, and that its placement was with the full knowledge of the U.S. Government.

A U.S. diplomat later said that the "brigade story" was a good example of how intelligence can be distorted and exploited by politicians to serve their own ends. In this case, the story did not serve anybody’s ends because it spluttered out like the damp squib that it was.

Kurt Waldheim, UN Secretary-General at the time, was under pressure not to attend the Havana summit but like Ban now he went, anyway, and delivered one of the opening addresses.

In a well-received speech, Waldheim noted: "This conference – your conference, ladies and gentlemen – can effectively encourage international understanding and cooperation and the workings of preventive diplomacy in order to avert new perils to peace. It can also stimulate a clearer understanding of the fundamental proposition that the well-being of nations is interdependent."

Heavy burden

Now, once again, with the current Secretary-General poised to attend the contemporary NAM summit, its location has again been causing uneasy rumbles as the following exchange at the State Department media briefing conducted by spokesperson Victoria Nuland on August 22 demonstrates:

"QUESTION: All right. Let’s start with Iran. The UN has just announced that Secretary-General Ban will go to the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Tehran later this month. And I’m just wondering if you can think of a bigger display of diplomatic impotence than the head of the UN showing up in the capital of a country that has, (a) defied all UN Security Council demands over its nuclear program, and (b) called for the destruction of a UN member – another UN member, and (c) has, according to you guys – or is, according to you guys, the biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the world.

"MS. NULAND: Was there a question in there?

“QUESTION: Yeah. Is there – can you think of a bigger display of diplomatic impotence than the head of the UN showing up for this meeting?

"MS. NULAND: Well, we’ve talked about our view with regard to the NAM meeting a couple of times here, including earlier this week. I think I even said yesterday that we had concerns that Iran is going to manipulate this opportunity and the attendees, to try to deflect attention from its own failings. And we have the exact same concerns that you articulated, that this is a country that is in violation of all kinds of UN obligations and has been a destabilizing force.

"We hope that those who have chosen to attend, including UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, will make very strong points to those Iranians that they meet about their international obligations, about the opportunity that we’ve provided through the P-5+1 talks for them to begin to come clean on their nuclear program and to solve this particular issue diplomatically, and about all the other expectations that we all have of them.

"QUESTION: So does that mean you cannot think of a bigger sign of diplomatic impotence?

"MS. NULAND: Again, I don’t think I’m going to rise to your particular –."

How great a burden today’s bureaucrats and media have to carry; almost as heavy as the "white man’s burden" of years gone by.

Continued relevance

A burden of a different kind will be foisted on NAM16 participants: a draft declaration that is 168 pages long and contains 696 paragraphs. Can NAM’s leaders, known for their prolix approach to speech-making, delve into all the topics that interest them, and also move through the somewhat anodyne agenda drafted by the Iranians within the summit’s time span?

Will speakers in the plenary sessions of the summit be up to the challenge of observing the seven minute limit that the hosts plan to impose on each of them? These are the sessions in which heads of state or government or, in a few instances, their foreign ministers standing in for them, speak in the assembly hall but to their audiences at home.

At NAM15, the plenary ended half an hour ahead of schedule. Mubarak’s Egypt obviously knew how to run a meeting. (Gavel in hand and the bulge of their small arms showing through their clothing, perhaps?) If the time-bound precedent set at NAM15 endures, the movement would have really turned a corner. It would then have more time to deal with really pressing issues leaving conference trivia for committees, working groups, and the like.

Among the questions NAM has to address is the oft-repeated reservation about the relevance of non-alignment itself and thus of NAM, now that the cold war has ended. This question presupposes that non-alignment was solely an attempt by post-colonial societies to steer clear of big power competition and confrontation. It was partly that, of course, but it was more than that – which is why it remains relevant even with the cold war laid to rest.

Cold War recruits

Some post-colonial societies opted to volunteer as cold war recruits. Others, after years of their nations’ servitude and subservience, were not interested in fighting other people’s quarrels.

They had, for the most part, struggled over many years to win back the right to manage their domestic affairs. They were determined to protect the freedom to manage their foreign affairs as well.

Thus, it is fair to say that non-alignment as a concept and as a policy is an extension of national independence into the arena of international relations. Even (Tito’s) Yugoslavia, a strong exponent of non-alignment, although it did not share the colonial experience of, for instance, India, wished to uphold its right to make foreign policy decisions untrammeled by the dictates or desires of external forces.

India’s Jawaharlal Nehru, as always, spoke with clarity on this matter as far back as in 1946 when he said: "I am not prepared even as an individual, much less as the foreign minister of this country, to give up my right of independent judgment to anybody else in other countries. That is the essence of our policy."

NAM is a coalition of nations subscribing to the foreign policy of independent judgment. Within that coalition, member-countries seek consensus – the closest possible convergence of views – and not head counting, on matters of mutual interest and of concern to the world at large.

In this mode, NAM countries have influenced international thinking on many issues including but not limited to: apartheid, decolonization, wars of national liberation, withdrawal of foreign forces from Indo-China, sovereignty over natural resources, food security, and the global development agenda.

Another set of issues worthy of consideration leading to independent judgment, fresh thinking and practical policies have been listed by the UN Secretary-General (see above). If NAM16 can grapple with these issues effectively, providing the wider global community (the host country included) with new insights, Ban’s visit to the summit would be truly worthwhile – and the people of Tehran will deserve the five-day holiday they have been granted while NAM16 is in business.

*The writer has served as Sri Lanka’s ambassador to Canada, Cuba, Mexico, and the USA. He was Chairman of the Commonwealth Select Committee on the media and development, Editor of the Ceylon ‘Daily News’ and the Ceylon ‘Observer’, and was for a time Features Editor and Foreign Affairs columnist of the Singapore ‘Straits Times’. He is Global Editor of IDN-InDepthNews and a member of its editorial board as well as President of the Media Task Force of Global Cooperation Council,

Copyright © 2012 IDN-InDepthNews | Analysis That Matters

This article should not be republished or redistributed without the permission of the original author or copyright holder.


Filed Under: Commentary, Diplomacy, Politics Tagged With:

Palestinians Step Again Towards Nationhood

August 18, 2012 by

Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS

Analysis by Mya Guarnieri

RAMALLAH, Aug 18 2012 (IPS) – A year after their bid for statehood flopped in the United Nations’ Security Council, the Palestine Liberation Organisation is again planning to seek an upgrade in UN status. On Sep. 27, the PLO will approach the UN General Assembly in hopes of becoming a non-member observer state. If their bid is successful, the Palestinians will be eligible to join various UN agencies and will also be able to bring allegations of Israeli war crimes to the International Criminal Court.

Responding to news of the Palestinians’ upcoming UN bid, Israeli Knesset Member (MK) Danny Danon said that Israel should unilaterally annex Israeli-controlled Area C, which makes up more than 60 percent of the West Bank and includes more than 200 Israeli settlements and outposts.

The idea of an annexation seems to be gaining currency. Danon, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party, promoted a Knesset bill calling for such a move. MK Uri Ariel has called for the application of Israeli civil law to Area C – a move that analysts say would amount to a de facto annexation.

According to The Jerusalem Post, Ariel’s proposal has garnered the support of “more than half” of Likud’s parliamentary representatives. And last month a number of Likud MKs participated in a conference organized around annexing not just Area C but the whole of the West Bank.

Despite the fact that Knesset Members are active in the drive towards an annexation, government spokesman Mark Regev has said that talk of an Israeli annexation of Area C is “ludicrous.”

Whatever the end goal, the Israel government continues to establish “facts on the ground” in Area C. According to the Israeli non-governmental organisation Peace Now, 2011 saw a 20 percent increase in West Bank settlement construction with work beginning on more than 1,850 new units. This year, Israel has approved over 1,400 new housing units in settlements – suggesting that 2012 will be a record-breaking year of settlement growth – and the number of West Bank settlers has risen by 4.5 percent.

As the state facilitates the transfer of Jewish Israelis to Area C with one hand, it uses the other to push the indigenous Palestinian residents out. Between January and June of 2012, the UN reports, Israel destroyed 384 Palestinian and Bedouin homes and structures in East Jerusalem and Area C. According to the UN, this led to the “forced displacement” of 615 Palestinians and Bedouins, more than half of who are children.

The UN notes that 2012 has seen a “significant increase” in both demolitions and displacements, “On average, 103 people have been displaced every month in 2012, compared to 91 in 2011, 51 in 2010, 52 in 2009 and 26 in 2008.”

Both the state and Israeli settlers are increasingly using “lawfare” against the Palestinian population in Area C – deeming Palestinian structures and villages that often pre-date the Israeli occupation itself as “illegal” and, therefore, subject to demolition.

According to Tamar Feldman of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, there are more than 14 Palestinian villages in the South Hebron Hills that are caught up in legal battles – waged by the state and right-wing organizations like Regavim – to hang on to their land.

The Palestinian villages of Zanuta and Susya, which are both under threat of imminent demolition, are two situations in which Regavim revived frozen demolition orders by petitioning the court, essentially forcing judges to rule on the cases. There are also the 12 villages in Firing Zone 918. If the state has its way, 1,500 Palestinians will be expelled from the area.

The state has no plans to relocate the families or to compensate them for taking their land.

Speaking to IPS, Feldman comments, “The Jordan Valley and the South Hebron Hills area have a lot of (Israeli-declared) firing zones and nature reserves that have restrictions on entry and residency. Most of the firing zones are not really being used for live fire training and (Zone 918) has not been used for live ammunition training. In fact, it has been used very little in the last 15 years.”

She calls the state’s sudden claim that it needs to use the area for military exercises, “very strange.”

The firing zones and nature reserves that dot Area C – as well as the demolitions, lopsided allocation of resources, and restrictions on freedom of movement – all function together to block Palestinian growth or drive Palestinians out altogether by making life unbearable. Is it a matter of grabbing more land or is it about creating a Jewish demographic majority on that land? Either way, both are crucial issues to annexation.

Feldman adds that the state’s expropriation of Palestinian land to create firing zones and nature reserves is “very problematic from an international law point of view. You’re not supposed to use an area within the occupied territory for any general purpose that serves you.”

But the recent Levy Commission report denies that Israel is occupying the West Bank. While the committee recommended that the government legalise all settlements and outposts, some observers say the Levy report constitutes an attempt to lay the legal groundwork for an Israeli annexation.

Jeff Halper, co-founder and director of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, tells IPS, “A lot of the settlements are built on private Palestinian land. And the Supreme Court isn’t letting (the state) expropriate the land. An annexation would mean that it all becomes Israeli land…it cuts through that Gordian knot of legal hassle and the issue of criticism of the settlements…”

“If Israel annexes Area C,” Halper continues, “the world will complain for a day…after the yelling and screaming, it will be normalised.”

Despite the fact that Israel unilaterally annexed East Jerusalem in 1980 and the Golan Heights in 1981 – and faced no real repercussions from the international community for either move – some analysts say that Israel won’t take Area C.

Neve Gordon, author of Israel’s Occupation, says Israel is too worried about “demographic concerns” to annex Area C and that “the political cost is considered too high…at this point, Israel is happy with a de facto annexation of parts of the West Bank without legally annexing the region as a whole.”

All rights reserved, IPS – Inter Press Service, 2012.

This article may not be republished, broadcast, framed, or redistributed without the written permission of IPS – Inter Press Service. Republication of this material without permission from IPS, the copyright holder, constitutes a violation of United States and international copyright laws and may result in legal action.


Filed Under: Middle East, Politics, Report Tagged With: , ,

More Austerity Won’t Solve European Crisis, U.N. Says

June 11, 2012 by

Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS

By Carlota Cortes

UNITED NATIONS, Jun 11, 2012 (IPS) – The increasingly precarious financial situation in Europe remains the biggest threat to the world economy, warns a U.N. report released here.

The "World Economic Situation and Prospects 2012" (WESP 2012) released Friday focuses on the need to avoid austerity measures and promote growth and job creation.

Rob Vos, director of Development Policy and Analysis Division of the U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs, told IPS, "The debt problems and financial sector fragility in Europe, but also in the United States, continue to be a source of ‘de-leveraging’ whereby businesses, households and banks are trying to restore their balance sheets, but this is holding back consumption and investment demand as well as normal credit flows."

Vos told reporters last week that Europe is struggling with a "vicious circle" based on high unemployment, banks’ exposure to sovereign debts and fiscal austerity.

"The situation is very fragile and we could fairly easily fall into a trap," he said.

On Jun. 9, Spain accepted a 125-billion-dollar bailout from the European Union to rescue the failed banking system.

It is the fourth country in Europe to accept emergency assistance, after Portugal, Greece and Ireland. In March, Spain’s unemployment rate was a whopping 24.1 percent.

However, Europe is not the only region facing these challenges.

Although there has been some economic improvement in the U.S., the world’s biggest economy, the unemployment rate remains over eight percent, according to the report.

"Developing countries are already being affected through slower trade and more volatile capital and commodity markets," Vos told IPS.

The 48 least developed countries (LDCs) grew almost two percent less than originally projected in the WESP report of January 2012, making the growth rate 4.1 percent.

Emerging nations are affected by the weakening of the international trade not only from developed countries but also among developing countries.

"World trade growth already started slowing in 2011 and this slowdown has continued this year. Manufacturing production in China is already showing signs of stagnation over the past few months and this is also bringing trade among developing countries to a halt," Vos said.

To all of this is added uncertainty in markets and political instability in areas such as the Middle East, which creates a risky world economic situation.

The report concludes that the current policies chosen by the developed countries, especially Europe, are heading in the "wrong direction". The fiscal austerity programmes implemented in several European countries are ineffective to help the economy emerge from crisis, it said.

Jomo Kwama Sundaram, U.N. assistant secretary-general of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, told reporters Thursday, "There is a strong recognition all over the world that fiscal austerity pursued by many governments has been the main cause for the protracted economic downturn."

The updated report recommends avoiding fiscal austerity measures and encourages policies that help to create direct jobs and promote green growth.

The debate over green growth and sustainable development goals has gained new momentum with the major Rio+20 Summit on Sustainable Development later this month.

According to Vos, official development aid fell for the first time in many years, but it is unclear to what extent this will affect the funding of proposals in Rio, such as the Global Environmental Facility (GEF.)

However, is it clear that "the economic problems in developed countries may affect willingness to agree on costly adjustments for cleaner energy, sustainable agriculture and other costly adjustments to their economies," he added.

This should not tarnish the event. On the contrary, Vos told IPS, green growth may be the solution to the crisis and "investing in sustainable development has a great potential for job creation and poverty reduction."

"Rio+20 provides a great opportunity for the world to come together to find a solution for both crises," Vos said.

All rights reserved, IPS – Inter Press Service, 2012.

This article may not be republished, broadcast, framed, or redistributed without the written permission of IPS – Inter Press Service. Republication of this material without permission from IPS, the copyright holder, constitutes a violation of United States and international copyright laws and may result in legal action.


Filed Under: Commentary, Economic Crisis, Economic Policy, Europe Tagged With: ,

UN: Somalia Is ‘Worst Humanitarian Disaster’

July 12, 2011 by

Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS

By Correspondents*

DOHA, Qatar, Jul 11, 2011 (IPS/Al Jazeera) – The head of the United Nations refugee agency has described the situation in drought-hit Somalia as the "worst humanitarian disaster" in the world, after meeting with those affected at the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya.

The camp, located in the northeast and the largest in the world, is overflowing with tens of thousands of refugees from Somalia, Ethiopia and within Kenya.

Antonio Guterres, the head of the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), visited the camp on Sunday, appealing for "massive support" from the international community for the more than 380,000 people estimated to be living in Dadaab.

"I have no doubt that in today’s world, Somalia corresponds to the worst humanitarian disaster. I have never seen in a refugee camp people coming in such desperate conditions," he told Al Jazeera.

"I saw a mother that had lost three of her children on the way here."

Guterres said that those at the camp were "the poorest of the poor and the most vulnerable of the vulnerable".

The UNHCR chief is on a tour of the region in order to highlight the plight of those affected by the drought.

The World Food Programme estimates that more than 10 million people are already in need of humanitarian aid, with the U.N. Children’s Fund estimating at least two million children are suffering from malnourishment.

Those children are in need of lifesaving action, the U.N. says.

On Thursday, Guterres visited the Ethiopian camp of Dollo Ado.

"The mortality rates we are witnessing are three times the level of emergency ceilings," he said.

"The level of malnutrition of the children coming in is 50 percent. That is enough to explain why a very high level of mortality is inevitable."

Thousands flee

Hundreds of thousands of people continue to flee the drought, walking for days in search of food and water.

According to doctors in Dadaab, most of the children have severe cases of acute malnutrition and related complications such as anaemia.

"The children are presenting with skin complications where their skin is peeling off mainly due to deficiency in micro-nutrients," Dr Milhia Abdul Kader said. "They are coming in a very bad shape."

Most of the arrivals to the camps are women and very young children, many of whom are in very bad physical condition, Al Jazeera’s Azad Essa, reporting from Dadaab, said.

"Every morning hundreds turn up at the registration sites, where they hope to get documented and receive some basic essentials," he said.

"But the process is long and people are waiting for days to complete registration and access food, having already walked for days to get here."

The epicentre of the drought lies on the three-way border shared by Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia, a nomadic region where families depend heavily on livestock.

Uganda and Djibouti have also been hit by the crisis.

‘Absolutely desperate’

Thousands more are waiting at reception centres outside the Dadaab camp.

"The people that are arriving are absolutely desperate," Andrew Wander of Save the Children, a UK-based charity, said.

"They haven’t eaten for weeks, they’ve been travelling for a long, long time in very difficult situations."

Wander said 1,500 people were arriving in Dadaab every day and that the situation was "extremely serious".

Doctors with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) told Al Jazeera the camps were being stretched to capacity.

"The situation in the outskirts of the established camps are catastrophes waiting to happen," said Essa.

"There are literally thousands of huts assembled out of tree branches, covered by plastic sheets provided by the U.N.

"These refugees have registered, but there is no space for them in any of the three camps, so they have just effectively created their own one."

As well as providing medical help, aid agencies are trying to distribute food and water to the hundreds of thousands of people reaching Dadaab.

"To deliver aid inside Somalia is a very important priority. When we see people in such a desperate situation, it would be much better if they could be supported inside the country," Guterres said.

*Published under an agreement with Al-Jazeera.

All rights reserved, IPS – Inter Press Service, 2011.

This article may not be republished, broadcast, framed, or redistributed without the written permission of IPS – Inter Press Service. Republication of this material without permission from IPS, the copyright holder, constitutes a violation of United States and international copyright laws and may result in legal action.


Filed Under: Africa, Conflict, Human Rights, Report Tagged With: ,

UN Faces Tough Challenges in Libya and Eastern Africa

June 19, 2011 by

Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IDN

By Richard Johnson

IDN-InDepth NewsReport     
    
GENEVA (IDN) – Conflict in Libya and drought in Eastern Africa are posing grave challenges to humanitarian aid agencies of the United Nations, which are being called upon to muster all their resources in coping with rather critical situations.

The World Food Programme (WFP) reports from Libya that the price of many food commodities has more than doubled in areas heavily affected by fighting.

For the countries in Eastern Africa 2011 is the "driest year" in more than 15 years, and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has warned that drought remains a major threat with no likelihood of improvement until early 2012.

WFP said in a media release on June 17 that it has delivered vital food assistance to more than 500,000 people in Libya, affected by the ongoing fighting between the Government and rebel groups seeking the ouster of Muammar al-Gaddafi, even as concerns continue to grow about access to food inside the country.

While the price of many food commodities has more than doubled in areas heavily affected by fighting, even before the war that erupted several months ago, Libya was a food deficit country heavily reliant on imports. Its public food distribution system is currently under stress as food stocks are being consumed without replenishment, WFP said.

Since it began to move food supplies into Libya in early March soon after the conflict began, WFP distributed aid to over 270,000 people in eastern Libya, 136,000 people in western Libya (mainly in the Nafusa Mountain area), and an additional 125,000 people in the city of Misrata.

"It has been a priority for WFP to mobilize food for those who are most vulnerable to hunger, especially people living in areas such as Misrata that have been severely affected by the conflict,” said Daly Belgasmi, WFP’s Regional Director for the Middle East, Central Asia and Eastern Europe.

The agency has extended its regional emergency operation for North Africa for three more months until the end of August 2011, at an overall cost of USD100 million.

So far the emergency operation, which would cover 1.5 million people affected by the violence in Libya and neighbouring countries, has received only a quarter of the funds it needs, WFP noted.

Other needs inside Libya include baby milk and diapers, medicines and vaccines throughout Government-controlled areas, as well as medicines and qualified personnel in Misrata, according to the OCHA.

The Office added that the USD408 million revised flash appeal launched in May 2011 to help more than 2 million civilians caught up in the conflict in Libya is currently 51 per cent funded.

DEEP CONCERN

Meanwhile, almost 650,000 people are reported to have left Libya and not returned. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that there are 243,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the country.

In Geneva, meanwhile, the head of the international treaty banning anti-personnel mines has expressed "deep concern" about reports of new mine use in Libya.

"New deployments of mines in Libya run counter to the norms that are accepted by the majority of States," said Gazmend Turdiu, President of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention, or Ottawa Convention.

The use of mines in Libya was reported by international media in March. Libya is one of four African nations that have not joined the Convention, which has 156 States parties.

In a related development, the UN Human Rights Council on June 17 extended the mandate of the independent commission of inquiry established to probe alleged violations of international human rights law in Libya.

In a resolution adopted in Geneva, the Council requested the commission to continue its work, including through visits, and to provide an oral update to the Council at its 18th session, and a final written report at its 19th session.

In a preliminary report submitted to the Council early June, the three-member International Commission of Inquiry found that Government forces committed war crimes during fighting that followed the uprising against the regime of Muammar al-Gaddafi. The commission said that it had found fewer reports of international crimes by opposition fighters, but did find some actions which would constitute war crimes.

Meanwhile, UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres had travelled to Tunisia, meeting refugees who have fled Libya. He urged the international community to help countries such as Tunisia that are sheltering the majority of the people displaced from Libya.

EASTERN AFRICA

OCHA reported on June 16 that countries worst-affected by persistent drought in Eastern Africa is include Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Djibouti, adding: "Somalia, Kenya, and Ethiopia experienced poor rainfall from March to May, which resulted in scarce pasture and increased water shortages."

OCHA warned: "Food insecurity in these areas is growing as the rains are insufficient to sustain either people or their livestock and adequately recharge water sources. Inflation rates across the region are on the increase, with Kenya recording 14% inflation, the highest in two years, which is expected to increase further."

The number of people in acute livelihood crisis, about 8.8 million at present, is estimated to increase in the coming months. Overall food and nutritional conditions across pastoral and marginal agricultural areas will continue to deteriorate; late and below-average summer harvests are expected, as are early depletion of pasturelands and water, and continued high prices of food, water, and fuel, warns the report released by the Sub-Regional Office for Eastern Africa (SROEA), Nairobi, covering the period May 1 to May 31, 2011.

In addition, due to reduced food reserves at household levels, the rate of school dropouts is increasing. In Ethiopia more than 280 schools remain closed as a result of the drought. Hygiene, sanitation, and health conditions are worsening as a result of the La Niña-induced drought, with increasing reports of waterborne diseases in Ethiopia.

The report points out that despite the drought and the threat to the livelihoods of millions in the region, emergency appeals throughout the region are only 51% funded. An amount of USD 1.293 billion had been request. Funding gaps have been reported in all major humanitarian sectors. WFP said it was in a position to meet only one-third of the actual food needs in its areas of operation in Eastern Africa. (IDN-InDepthNews/18.06.2011)

2011 IDN-InDepthNews | Analysis That Matters

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Filed Under: Conflict, Featured, Geopolitics, Peace, Politics Tagged With:

MIDEAST: September Knocks on Israeli Gates

June 7, 2011 by

Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS

By Pierre Klochendler

JERUSALEM, Jun 7, 2011 (IPS) – "September 2011 is knocking on our gates," says an Israeli army officer who, under strict operation procedures, would not reveal his name. He was alluding to the United Nations General Assembly annual meeting expected to resoundingly endorse the Palestinian drive for recognition of statehood.

The officer was also literally referring to even more pressing events. On Sunday, hundreds of young Palestinians living in refugee camps in Syria marched towards the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights in an attempt to cross the "disengagement lines". According to media reports emanating from Syria, 23 demonstrators were killed, hundreds more were wounded.

Israeli army officials refused to divulge their own count of the fatalities, arguing that since the incidents had taken place inside Syrian territory they couldn’t check the veracity of the information. The allegation was that Molotov cocktails hurled by the demonstrators had ignited a brushfire, provoking the explosion of anti-tank mines disseminated in the area.

Israeli military sources said that three infantry battalions were posted along the fence that separates the rugged area. Snipers were posted on high ground, and equipped with telescopes mounted on their assault rifles. For fears of infiltrations into the Israeli-controlled territory, soldiers had been instructed to use live ammunition procedures against the marchers: First warning shots in the air, then shots aimed at the legs, then ‘shoot-to-kill’ orders.

At another crossing point in the vicinity of the Syrian town of Quneitra where soldiers and demonstrators were at closer range, the troops fired rubber-coated bullets and tear gas.

Arab social networks had called Jun. 5 the "Naqsa Day" or day of the "Defeat", a day of protest in commemoration of the June 1967 War dubbed triumphantly in Israel as the "Six Day War". Then, 44 years ago, the Israeli-Arab war brought about the start of the long Israeli occupation of Palestinian and Syrian lands.

"Naqsa day" came in the wake of "Naqba day", another commemoration of Israel’s troubled history with its Arab neighbours. "Naqba" is the "Great Catastrophe" endured by the Palestinians during Israel’s "War of Independence" that accompanied its May 8, 1948 declaration of statehood.

During that war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were either forcibly removed by Jewish soldiers from their homes and land or were simply told by invading Arab soldiers to temporarily move away from the fighting.

Within a year, the majority of Arabs living in what used to be British Mandate Palestine turned into a minority on the land that became Israel; Three generations of Palestinian refugees, around four to five millions, are still scattered across neighbouring Arab countries, predominantly in Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria. The estimated number includes refugees from the 1967 War.

When three weeks ago, hundreds of refugees living in Lebanon and Syria marched towards the fence. Israel was caught by surprise. Tens of demonstrators from Syria then infiltrated the Israeli side of the Golan. Fifteen demonstrators were killed on the Lebanese and Syrian side.

This time, the border with Lebanon remained quiet. The Lebanese Forces imposed a closed military zone on the area. Yet, the Israeli army readiness, and its successful determination at preventing infiltrations at all cost, came at a greater cost, in human life.

In incidents similar to those that occurred last month, hundreds of Palestinians confronted Israeli soldiers at the Kalandia checkpoint in the occupied West Bank. Scores were wounded. The Islamist movement Hamas kept Gaza demonstrators at bay.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the demonstrators were seeking to "challenge Israel’s sovereignty and undermine the borders of the country," stressing that, "like every country in the world, Israel has the right and the duty to guard its borders and protect them."

The statement tenaciously eluded the fact that the international community doesn’t recognise the territories occupied in the wake of the 1967 War as sovereign Israeli lands. In 1981, Israel unilaterally extended the administration and the law of the state to the Golan Heights, a de facto annexation declared as "null and void and without international legal effect" in a UN Security Council resolution.

Accusing fingers of "border provocation" were pointed at Syria and it leader. "Bashar el-Assad is trying to divert attention from the massacre that he’s carrying out against his own citizens," said minister for home front defence Matan Vilnai.

Netanyahu staunchly opposes re-launching negotiations with the Palestinians on the basis of the "1967 borders". Caught in the crossfire between preventing "Israel’s sovereignty" from being "challenged", and exercising "restraint" when facing civilians, his government is bound to be facing ever more resolute defiance in the weeks and months ahead.

Another commemoration will take place in July. Fifteen ships carrying international activists will sail from Turkey towards the Gaza Strip in an effort to defy the siege still imposed by Israel on the embattled territory.

The activists will mark a similar attempt, that of the "Peace Flotilla". In May last year, six Turkish activists were killed aboard the M.V. Marmara during a botched naval assault by Israeli commandos while the boat was in international waters.

On the 1967 border (the pre-"Naqsa"/post-"Naqba" ceasefire line), other confrontations regularly pit Israeli soldiers against Palestinian demonstrators, in Bi’ilin for instance, a flashpoint of Palestinian civil resistance against Israel’s separation wall established on lands beyond the line. And there are almost daily clashes in Palestinian neighbourhoods in occupied East Jerusalem.

On Monday morning, hundreds of Palestinian demonstrators were still camped near the fence that cuts across Syria’s Golan, raising the concern that the area will become another bloody fixture of the ongoing Israeli-Arab conflict.

So, no wonder that the current low-burning, yet larger-scale Intifadah uprising is regarded by the nameless Israeli officer as a prelude to the gathering storm that’s expected to hit Israel in September.

All rights reserved, IPS – Inter Press Service, 2011.

This article may not be republished, broadcast, framed, or redistributed without the written permission of IPS – Inter Press Service. Republication of this material without permission from IPS, the copyright holder, constitutes a violation of United States and international copyright laws and may result in legal action.


Filed Under: Foreign Affairs, Geopolitics, Middle East, Politics, Report Tagged With: , ,
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