UN silencing Palestinian narratives

Lauded by Zionist media, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon’s visit to Israel is once again proof of the imperialist organisation’s involvement in the destruction of Palestine. Exhibiting disregard for Palestinian armed resistance against colonial violence, Ban reserved sympathy for Israel’s sheltered and complicit settler-population. His comments were utilised by Israeli media to continue with its alleged justification of the committed atrocities.

Allocating the major part of his visit to Israel, Ban consolidated Israel’s impunity by endorsing the false narrative perpetrated by Israel with regards to the tunnel network destruction. “I was shocked by the tunnels used for the infiltration of terrorists… No one needs live under the constant threat and fear of rockets and tunnels digging underground.”

On the other hand, the UN secretary-general offered mere condolences to relatives of Palestinians whose lives were annihilated during “Operation Protective Edge”, in addition to emphasising UN opposition to armed resistance. “I repeat here in Gaza the rockets fired by Hamas and other military groups must end. They have brought nothing but suffering.”

On the other hand, the destruction of UN premises was deplored in a manner that shielded Israel from culpability in murdering Palestinians seeking refuge after having to flee their demolished dwellings – evident in Ban’s statement that separated the issue of shelling UN schools and the intentional murder of civilians.

References to the 2008-2009 “Operation Cast Lead” massacre were also evoked to fragment the contemporary historical process into episodes, in which the UN participated willingly. Reports on Venezuela’s Telesur last August included excerpts of Wikileaks documents, in which the US and Ban are portrayed as having collaborated in minimising the ramifications of Israel’s colonial violence. Independent inquiries into the atrocities were mellowed by Ban’s collaboration with Israel and the US in clarifying that the recommendations put forth by the board “exceeded the scope of the terms of reference and no further action is needed”.

Just as Wikileaks reveals collaboration in ascertaining Israel’s colonial expansion, Ban’s recent visit and comments attest to the willingness in enforcing oblivion. Speaking at the Cairo conference, the UN secretary-general inefficiently summarised Israel’s violation of Palestinian rights through the framework of “a restrictive occupation that has lasted almost half a century, the continued denial of Palestinian rights and the lack of tangible progress in peace negotiations”. The ineffective summary has become the premise for most imperialist discourse about Palestine – a conjecture divested of history and ideology in order to obliterate the process of Zionist settler-colonialism.

Equally, the same distortion features even more significantly in relation to compromised negotiations about the two-state conspiracy – an issue restored to prominence in the aftermath of Israel’s colonial massacre. While having allegedly visited Gaza “to listen directly” to the besieged and tortured population, Ban’s utterance was a prelude to increased insistence upon Palestinian compromise with imperialism. Negotiations, presented as deterrent to violence, continue to shape Palestine’s subjugation through the Palestinian leadership’s collaboration with oppressive entities.

With Palestinian leaders endorsing the temporary fragmentation of territory as an additional step in the colonisation process, the only outcome for Palestinians is an unwilling dependence enforced through political compromise.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.