The UN General Assembly resolution criticizing the present situation in Gaza was an attempt to appease the Palestinians following last week’s US veto in the Security Council. The veto would have deservedly censured Israel for its aggression in Gaza. On one hand, the resolution urges an immediate end to all acts of violence, not just by Israelis but by Palestinian as well. It is also true that Palestinian rocket fire into Israel seldom causes any damage and cannot begin to compare with the death and destruction wrought by Israel in the Gaza Strip over the past four months. The massacre at Beit Hanoun is the best example. On the other hand, General Assembly resolutions are not binding and are largely symbolic. And, Israel takes little notice of them.
As for US ambassador to the UN John Bolton’s remarks that the General Assembly measure was unhelpful and served “only to exacerbate tensions,” his attention should be drawn to what really exacerbates tensions: comments such as those by Avigdor Lieberman, Israel’s deputy prime minister, that Israel should assassinate Hamas’ leadership. Each of Lieberman’s statements is more inflammatory than the last and sounds as if it is coming from a top-notch extremist, not a senior responsible official seriously concerned about the violence and keen on resolving it.
Israel and the US are not the only Palestinian concerns. Arab countries themselves are not helping the situation. While the recent Arab foreign ministers’ meeting in Cairo promised Arab aid to the Palestinians in the absence of US and EU assistance, the money has yet to appear where it is needed. In Cairo the ministers showed a disturbing willingness on behalf of their states to keep turning the other cheek in response to Israel’s Gaza incursions and American callousness to the tragedies those incursions inevitably result in. Washington was not even accused of bias, the very word used by the United States when it vetoed the resolution that would have censured Israel for its attacks in Gaza.
At least the Palestinians are making some headway of their own. President Abbas could be close to a unity government. Negotiators say the sides are making progress with the hope that the new government, expected to take a vague position toward Israel, can bring about an end to the crippling international aid boycott imposed after Hamas was elected in January. The re-dressing of the Palestinian government is a solid attempt by the Palestinians to determine their own destiny for it seems nobody else will do it for them. Unable to get a break from so many parties, Palestinians are taking it upon themselves to help themselves. They are on their own. The government shake-up is but one example. Others, like the Israelis calling off a planned air attack on a house in Jabaliya refugee camp in Gaza after hundreds of Palestinians formed a human shield, and another, in which dozens of Palestinian women prevented Israeli soldiers from entering a mosque in search of Palestinian fighters — two of the women were shot dead by Israeli soldiers — shows the courage the Palestinians possess in spite of having so often been ignored and frustrated at every turn.
