Palestine's fight for survival !

The people of Palestine have been fighting for their rights for the past several decades.

The most recent fight between the two sides (Israel- Gaza) escalated sharply on 15^th November 2012. It resulted into the first ever militant attack on the Tel Aviv area, menacing Israel’s heartland. On the other hand 156 Gaza based Palestinians were killed including 33 children and minors by Israelis. Most of the more than 1000 wounded Palestinians were civilians.

This has been the result Israel –Palestine conflict ever since 1967. According to author Tanya Reinhart -“ Ever since the 1967 occupation, Israeli military and political elites have deliberated over the question of how to keep maximum land with minimum Palestinian population” (in her book- ‘Israel/Palestine- How to end the war of 1948, pg,188) –

Hence, the recent United Nations session in New York on 29^th November 2012(immediately after the conflict) is considered as one of the most historic events for Palestine.  This is one of the most important moves towards Palestinian statehood where 138 countries, including India and the BRICS- Brazil, Russia, India, China, & South Africa; voted in favour of the resolution, 41 abstained and 9 including the US and Canada voted against it. Following the vote, American envoy at the United Nations, Susan Rice, said the resolution does not establish Palestine as state, and it prejudges the outcome of negotiations ignoring questions of security.

What does this vote mean for Palestine?

The vote implies global recognition of the relevant territory as a sovereign state and is a major step towards a two-state solution for historical Palestine. The new status amounts to less of an achievement than full U.N. membership, which the Security Council declined to consider in September 2011 on the grounds that the members were unable to make a “unanimous recommendation”, but the Palestinians can now participate in General Assembly debates. The U.N. resolution, however, could well be the first of many momentous changes for West Asia. With the changing waves in West Asia as a result of the Arab spring seems to have sensitized the international milieu with regards to human and fundamental rights of the people of west Asia  And what is more critical for the Arabs than the issue of Israel-Palestine?

The Palestinians can now participate in General Assembly debates, and in future, haul Israel into the International Criminal Court on possible charges of war crimes.

The Palestinian Authority can now also seek membership of several U.N. agencies and, above all, can apply to sign the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, with the clear implication that Israel may finally be held accountable for crimes committed against the civilian population of Gaza.

The vote will be truly meaningful if it marks the start of a new international resolve to ensure the people of Palestine are able to exercise their right to statehood and self-determination, just as the people of Israel have been doing for so many years. The first priority has to be to stop the Israeli iron grip over occupied Palestinian territory, including the outrageous policy of building settlements. As long as the international community gives Tel Aviv a free hand on these issues, peace and security in Israel-Palestine will always remain elusive. The region demands justice for Palestinians and the only reason their demands haven’t been addressed till date is because the uni-polar international system runs by the US US hegemony. But with the changing world order the so called super power will have to make several altering moves while dealing with the issue of Israel-Palestine or else they are in for a huge show down by the changing Arab world as well as their long terms allies like Egypt and Israel.