Israel and the United Nations

                                Israel and the United Nations

 

     The late, great Abba Eban, who was Israel’s representative to the United Nations,when Israel was created by a vote of the United Nations, once noted that Israel was rejecting its birth certificate, when it refuses to abide by and respect U.N. resolutions. So far, it has refused to accept, the most recent resolution that was passed (Jan.8), with the support of 14 of the members of the Security Council (U.S.A abstained even though Rice worked on the wordings), calling for “an immediate, durable and fully respected ceasefire”, that would lead to the “full withdrawal “of Israeli forces from Gaza, the passage of humanitarian aid to Palestinians and an end to trafficking of arms and ammunitions into the territory.  Hamas has also refused to accept it.

     This rare show of solidarity (the U.S.A. has in the past vetoed such resolutions),was reached after a series of incidents. International aid groups have accused Israel of denying access to civilians, of killing and injuring relief workers, of civilians trapped in “nightmarish deprivation “. The Red Cross in a rare and critical ( it usually stay neutral), statement, said “ the Israeli military failed to meet its obligation under international humanitarian law to take care of and evacuate the wounded “……it found 4 emaciated children(fig.2a) next to the bodies of their dead mothers. they were too weak to stand up on their own .In all ,there were 12 corpses lying on mattresses. The Israeli military must have been aware of the situation but did not assist the wounded nor did they make it possible for us or the Palestinian Red Crescent to assist the wounded” said Pierre Wettach, the ICRC’s representative for Israel and the Palestinian territories. The ICRC also said  that on Wednesday Red Crescent medics were prevented for four days from reaching the wounded.

     The U.N. suspended relief aid after one of its drivers was killed and two wounded by Israeli fire. The vehicles were clearly marked.. U.N. Sect. Gen Moon, has made a second call for Israel to investigate the killing of 40 Gazans, who had sought shelter in a clearly marked U.N. run school.

     Cardinal Renato Martino, the head of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, in an interview in Il Sussidiaro said “Look at the conditions in Gaza: more and more, it resembles a big concentration camp”, and in La Republica, he called it “horrific”. Israel has condemned what it called “the WW11 imagery”.

     John Holmes, the U.N. emergency relief co-ordinator called the 3 hour pause in fighting, that Israel has allowed for relief, “insufficient”, and clearly it is. 758 Gazans have been killed (257 children and 56 women), 3,100 have injured (1,050 children and 465 women) and tens of thousands have been displaced. There is little or no clean water, little or  46no electricity, there is shortage of medical supplies and there is the threat of water borne diseases such as cholera  And yet the bloodletting continues on both sides                                                            
(fig 2a)