UN affirms reluctance to hold Israel accountable for its colonisation of Palestine

Remembrance and solidarity with Palestinians have once again been voiced in commemoration of the United Nations’ resolution which lacerated Palestine, paving the way for decades of perfected massacres since the implementation of the partition plan. Describing the illusion of peace negotiations as ‘the current moment of opportunity’ during a speech observing the forthcoming International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, UN secretary general Ban Ki Moon implored the international community “to work together to translate the solidarity expressed on this occasion into positive action for peace and justice”.

Various concepts were deftly eliminated from the United Nations’ proposed symbolic justice; other issues were amalgamated to distort and simplify the significance of Palestine for Palestinians. The rhetoric departed from an imperialist perception of what peace and Palestine should entail, to the benefit of Israel’s ongoing colonisation which remains unchallenged partly due to the United Nations’ predilection to separate history from its current ramifications. Through glorification of the international organisation, along with its ‘relevant partners’, the maintenance of oppression has been emphatic, displaying a partiality towards interim solutions and unfeasible conjectures which necessitate permanent dependence, rather than categorically insist upon the rights of Palestinians to be implemented. In adopting a process of oblivion echoing Israel’s discussion of Palestinians depending upon viable opportunity, the UN has mangled peace into a series of statements invoking illegality as enshrined in international law which is rendered insubstantial due to the absence of implementation, opting instead to affirm Israel’s right to exist and promote its lament of security concerns without addressing Israeli responsibility.

Commencing with an inaccurate reference to ‘Israeli-Palestinian peace’, Ban Ki Moon’s equation undermines the legitimacy of Palestinian resistance, focusing instead on trivialities emanating from the peace negotiations which have served to divert attention away from the ongoing human rights violations, simplified by the secretary general as ‘alarming’ and ‘of particular concern’. Mellowing discourse into illusions of equality undermines Palestinian historical legitimacy – the population remains tethered to misconstructions promulgated by official Palestinian representation, Israel and representatives of the international community. Rather than legitimise the demands of Palestinians, the UN deems a continuation of the illegalities it helped to establish decades ago as milestones which should be incorporated within the present in order to accommodate slivers of Palestinian demands while acquiescing to the hegemonic narrative dominated by Israel.

“The goal remains clear – an end to the occupation that started in 1967 and the creation of a sovereign, independent and viable State of Palestine based on the 1967 borders, living side by side in peace with a secure State of Israel.” The statement uttered by Ban Ki Moon disregards the right of return for Palestinians, which has characterised identity, memory and resistance since the forced expulsions during the Nakba of 1948. The only clarity within the statement is the imposed necessity of compromise – a discussion of Palestinian rights to land reclamation as deemed practical by the international community whose sole concern is a complete avoidance of the repercussions arising from complicity and accountability in sustaining Israel’s colonisation of Palestine.

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