BY ROHAN PEARCE
On March 12, UN secretary-general Kofi Annan made a speech that contained some of the harshest criticisms of Israel by any UN representative since the second intifada began in September 2000.
Annan said: "Large-scale military operations in pursuit of Palestinian militants — involving ground troops, attack helicopters, tanks and F-16s — have taken place throughout civilian areas and refugee camps in the West Bank and Gaza, causing large-scale loss of life." The speech also attacked "deliberate and indiscriminate targeting of civilians" by Palestinians.
Annan called on Israel's government to "end the illegal occupation ... stop the bombing of civilian areas, the assassinations, the unnecessary use of lethal force, the demolitions and the daily humiliation of ordinary Palestinians". Annan added that "acts by Israel in the occupied Palestinian territories have also been described as illegal ... such as the establishment of settlements, the imposition of Israeli laws, and jurisdiction and administration over East Jerusalem, and some of the events we have witnessed recently".
The UN Security Council also passed a resolution on March 12 calling for "the Israeli and Palestinian sides and their leaders to cooperate in the implementation of the Tenet work plan and Mitchell Report recommendations with the aim of resuming negotiations on a political settlement" and "immediate cessation of all acts of violence, including all acts of terror, provocation, incitement and destruction".
Although incorporating some parts of a resolution sponsored by Syria, the final resolution, which was put forward by the United States, did not explicitly criticise Israel's government. However, the resolution does "recall its previous relevant resolutions, in particular Resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973)" — resolutions that declared illegal Israel's post-1967 occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Syria's UN representative, Mikhail Wehbe, criticised the resolution for "treating the killer and the victim equally".
That a resolution implicitly criticising Israel's government was passed by the Security Council at all is significant, since in the past the US has often vetoed any such resolutions.
In 1978, the UN General Assembly adopted resolution 33/28 which called for "a just solution of the problem of Palestine on the basis of the attainment of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, including the right of return and the right to national independence and sovereignty in Palestine".
International condemnation
The latest resolution comes at time when international condemnation of the government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is growing — even from the imperialist countries.
According to US officials, US secretary of state Colin Powell phoned Sharon on March 14 to tell him he must withdraw from Palestinian Authority (PA) areas. In an interview published on March 11, French foreign minister Hubert Vedrine told the Israeli daily paper Ha'aretz that Sharon's "policy of oppression" has not succeeded.
A draft statement on the Middle East, prepared for the coming European Union summit in Spain, calls for the immediate withdrawal of Israel's troops from PA-controlled areas.
In an obvious reference to Sharon's "if they aren't badly beaten, there won't be any negotiations" speech on March 4, the statement said, "The use of excessive force and a policy which aims to hit the Palestinians ever harder, leads to violent reactions, will not guarantee the security of Israel and cannot be justified."
Israel launched what the Palestine Chronicle described as the Israel Defence Force's "largest operation in 20 years". The re-occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip involves 20,000 troops, making it the largest combat troops deployment since the invasion of Lebanon. The troops were withdrawn from most PA areas on March 15 as US "peace envoy" Anthony Zinni arrived in Israel.
Israel's troops still remain in areas nominally under the control of the PA around Bethlehem and Jenin, and are ready to re-deploy into other PA areas.
Sharon has rejected the minimalist peace plan proposed by Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah. The plan called for Israel's withdrawal to its pre-1967 borders. Sharon's response was that such a withdrawal would threaten Israel's security.
Polarisation
Within Israel, the population continues to polarise. One thing is clear, Sharon is rapidly losing the population's confidence that he can deliver their security.
The government coalition remains shaky. It has been reported that at a cabinet meeting on March 13, Sharon attacked defence minister and Labour Party chairperson Binyamin Ben-Eliezer for halting some military operations in Ramallah. Although the disagreement was resolved, Ben-Eliezer allegedly threatened to resign.
Infrastructure minister Avigdor Leiberman reportedly told a cabinet meeting on March 7, "At 8am we'll bomb all the commercial centres ... at noon we'll bomb their gas stations ... at two we'll bomb their banks." At that point Leiberman was interrupted by foreign minister and Labour Party member Shimon Peres, who said, "And at 6pm you'll receive an invitation to the international tribunal in the Hague".
On May 15, there will be a hearing in a Brussels appeals court over whether Belgium can prosecute Sharon for the 1982 massacres of Palestinians at the Shatila and Sabra refugee camps.
While the peace movement has made important gains in recent months, the far right has also strengthened. Binyamin Elon, leader of the extreme-right Moledet Party and tourism minister, is popularising his so-called "transfer" plan — the mass expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank.
About a third of Israelis who participated in a poll conducted by the Israeli daily, Ma'ariv, supported Elon's ethnic-cleansing plan. According to a similar poll conducted by Israel's leading Russian-language newspaper, Vesti, 37% of Russian immigrants support the proposal.
Elon's credibility was boosted by a visit from US Democratic Senator Hillary Clinton, who was his guest at a meeting of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organisations.
Yossi Sarid, leader of the opposition in the Knesset (Israel's parliament) and chairperson of the Meretz Party, said that it was "embarrassing to see an important representative of democracy sitting down to dinner with minister Elon, who openly espouses the racist doctrine of transfer".
From Green Left Weekly, March 20, 2002.
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