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Now,
When Exactly Did the UN Lose Its Street Cred?
By RON JACOBS
The toll of death and destruction continues
to mount in Lebanon as Israeli aircraft drop ton after ton of
US-supplied bombs and its gunships fire thousands of rounds at
people and structures on the ground. Just before I began writing
this, I read a recent statement made by the Israeli justice minister
in which he said that anyone remaining in southern Lebanon will
now be considered a terrorist and is therefore "fair game."
In other words, Israel is giving its troops permission to commit
wholesale slaughter in that part of Lebanon.
Meanwhile, the official world
sits by. Some wring their hands in anguish and others silently
(or, in the case of Washington, rather loudly) cheer the Israeli
forces on. Israel, who has never paid much attention to world
opinion anyhow, is remaining true to form. After attacking a
clearly marked and previously known United Nations post in southern
Lebanon for more than six hours despite repeated requests to
halt the attacks, the Israeli military finally destroyed the
post and killed four UN observers. The observers were unarmed
and essentially powerless in the face of the Israeli onslaught.
Indeed, they were sitting ducks, to use the American parlance.
The attack and deaths at the
UN post serve as a fitting metaphor for the situation the United
Nations finds itself in when it comes to Israel and the United
States. Due to its hierarchical construction and the undue weight
given the individual member countries on the Security Council,
even resolutions supported by an overwhelming majority of its
member countries can be vetoed at Washington's behest. This
fact alone insures that Israel will never have to answer for
its crimes as long as Washington remains its loyal ally. In
essence, then, this means that Israel can do whatever it wants
without fear of reprisal from the world community as embodied
in the UN.
I was recently asked if I thought the UN had lost its credibility
in the wake of its inability to take any decisive action against
Israel in the wake of its current campaign in Lebanon. My answer
to this question would have to be no. The United Nations didn't
lose its credibility on July 13, 2006 when Israel began its current
war. It lost its credibility many years ago when it failed to
enforce UN Resolution 242, which called for the"withdrawal
of Israeli armed forces from territories occupied in the recent
conflict" and the "[t]ermination of all claims or
states of belligerency". There are others who would argue
that its credibility faded many years earlier.
As long as Israel can occupy
lands that do not belong to it without UN sanctions or other
repercussions, the UN will have no credibility. As long as Israel
can steal peoples land from under their feet and resettle its
own citizens in buildings that the Israeli government builds
for them, the UN will have no credibility. As long as the Israeli
military can attack civilian populations and kill them wantonly,
the UN will have no credibility. As long as the government of
Israel can produce and store nuclear and other weapons of mass
destruction without any internationally sanctioned punishment
while its neighbors are attacked and destroyed merely because
they might have such weaponry, the UN will have no credibility.
Of course, its current failure
to address the Israeli attacks on the civilian population of
Israel only adds to that world body's impotence. The toning
down of Secretary General Annan's original statements regarding
the Israeli attack on the UN post is further proof of this phenomenon.
For those not paying attention, Annan's original statement called
the attacks deliberate. Subsequent statements from the body
backed down from this assertion. One assumes that this was due
in part to US pressure, since even though Washington ignores
UN resolutions at will, it continues to determine much of the
direction the UN will take. Naturally, given that capital's
closeness to Tel Aviv (and their similarity of motives), this
means that Israel rarely receives a rebuke for any of its actions,
no matter how bellicose.
During the buildup to the US attack on Iraq, there were many
in the world community who hoped that the UN would have some
say in preventing that war. Conversely, there were many in the
United States that hoped the UN would support the US endeavor,
thereby providing Washington with a fig leaf to cover its aggression.
As it turned out, neither scenario occurred and the US went
to war anyhow. This meant that, although the UN did not have
the power to stop a war that an aggressor was intent on starting,
it was also unwilling to sanction such a war merely to provide
a powerful member some legitimacy. In the case of Israel, however,
even this principle does not seem to apply. The current situation
in Lebanon proves this quite graphically. The ongoing situation
in Gaza and the West Bank proves it even more.
Let's go back to the attack on the UN post. Not only were the
Israelis aware of the outpost, they were also asked to stop their
shelling. Of course, these requests went unheeded. In press
conferences following the event, various Israeli officials lampooned
the UN and denied any knowledge of the post's presence. In addition,
they are insisting that the UN not be involved in the investigation
of the event. If previous investigations are any indication,
Israel will destroy any evidence that might point to its culpability
and then continue on doing whatever it wishes. The UN has no
answer to this arrogance.
If Israel re-occupies part
of Lebanon, one wonders if the UN Security Council will insist
that Tel Aviv follow Resolution 1559. This resolution, which
was aimed at Hezbollah and Syria, commands all militias in Lebanon
disarm and all foreign troops to leave the country. Although
it was pushed through by France and the United States last year
with unanimous support from the Security Council, it seems reasonable
to assume that Israel will once again illuminate the UN's powerlessness.
Indeed, the current conversations between Washington and London
(with Tel Aviv most likely in the conversation, too) illuminate
that powerlessness by essentially affirming that the only ceasefire
agreement the Security Council will approve is one written by
the Washington-Tel Aviv-London axis. While decisions like this
may lend credibility to the UN in those capitals, it does the
opposite in most of the rest of the world.
CounterPunch
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