Impunity that must end

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is often extremely cautious in commenting on the Arab-Israeli conflict, careful not to provoke caustic Israeli responses.

But recently, he came under attack by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Jewish leaders in the US for “encouraging Palestinian terrorism” in the occupied Palestinian territories.

In remarks to a UN Security Council session dealing with the situation in Palestine last week, Ban did condemn, as he routinely does, Palestinian attacks on Israeli citizens.

For Israel, that is a standard duty required from any international figure, and while it may deflect blame, it hardly begets gratitude.

The problem is that Ban’s message, from Israeli perspective had strayed further than it probably should.

“Stabbings, vehicle attacks and shootings by Palestinians targeting Israeli citizens — all of which I condemn — and clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces have continued to claim lives, but security measures alone will not stop the violence,” Ban said.

But where he got himself in serious trouble is when he added that security measures alone cannot address the sense of alienation and despair driving some Palestinians — especially young people.

The full force of the law,” he added, “must be brought to bear on all those committing crimes — with a system of justice applied equally for Israelis and Palestinians alike.”

Recognition of Palestinian “frustration and despair” by such a prominent international figure addressing the highest international forum, as well as the reference to the settlers’ and Israeli occupation forces’ crimes against the Palestinians, must have been too much for Israel to bear.

What must have been most infuriating for Israeli officials in the UN secretary general’s comments is his blaming of the continued occupation for the recent wave of violence.

He also blasted Israel’s settlement-building programme, warning that it casts doubt on Israel’s commitment to the creation of a Palestinian state.

Obviously, Israel is not used to this kind of language, particularly comments by Ban like this: “Palestinian frustration is growing under the weight of a half century of occupation and the paralysis of the peace process. As oppressed people have demonstrated throughout the ages, it is human nature to react to occupation, which often serves as a potent incubator to hate and extremism.”

As a matter of fact, this is the kind of accurate, lawful, valid and proper language that should be used at the UN as well as all other international fora, all the time.

Israel’s intimidating tactics all along, however, have been effective in hiding the truth to protect its lawlessness and flagrant violation of international law.

The surprise, therefore, is not in what Ban is now saying; it is rather in having to wait so long to acknowledge the reality of the situation and have the courage to finally say it.

Abrasive responses to the secretary general’s correct statements are no more than the usual intimidating tactics against any word of truth.

No one, in Israeli view, should realise that the Palestinians are as human as the rest of the other peoples of the world; no one should recognise that they have rights and national aspirations, that it is not only their right, but also their duty to rise against more than half a century of occupation and colonisation of their land; and no one, according to Israel’s lopsided logic, should realise that all Israel is doing against the Palestinians is illegal and in direct contradiction of international law.

When explaining why the Palestinians are frustrated, the UN secretary general is accused of justifying terror.

Israeli and Jewish leaders who protested expect the Palestinians to accept with gratitude Israel’s occupation, its continued and systematic ethnic cleansing, its house demolitions, its siege on Gaza and all its other well-documented crimes.

If Palestinians protest such injustice, Israel wants everyone to believe that it is not because they have sentiments, rights and integrity, but because they are criminals and anti-Semitic extremists who are taught to hate the Jews.

As I write, I am watching a report of a Palestinian man standing on the rubble of his home, bulldozed by Israel in Taybeh, in the north of Palestine. 

He said “the work of 20 years is being destroyed in few minutes”.

Israel demolished the house because the owner did not obtain a building permit to build on the land that he and his forefathers owned for centuries.

He did not obtain a permit from Israeli occupation authorities who rarely grant them to Palestinians, in order to keep the land open for Zionist expansion.

In a highly defensive The New York Times’ article this week, Ban reiterated his comments, but at the same time sought to reassure Israel that he could be relied on.

Let us hope, nonetheless, that the stand of the UN chief marks the beginning of the end of timidity and hypocrisy of the majority of international figures and other world leaders when addressing the situation in the Middle East.

Disguising the truth and blurring the reality is not just immoral, complicit and irresponsible, it is also a flagrant betrayal of the principles and norms that serve world peace and security as required by the UN Charter.

Israel has been encouraged all this time to continue to defy international law and to maintain its aggressive policies against its Arab neighbours because it was never held accountable.

This impunity must end.