Comments by the PA ambassador to the UN flaunt the authority’s ulterior motives

It is a pity that the Palestinian Authority’s international antics do not harvest the ensuing humiliation selectively for the leadership and its representatives. An automatic disclaimer clarifying misrepresentation ought by now to become an imperative, in order to assert Palestinian independence away from the rhetorical farce which has impacted severely on the people’s rights and dignity.

In comments which have displayed, without any doubt, the Palestinian leadership’s disregard for human rights violations, Palestinian Ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour has threatened the unleashing “of all the weapons that we have in the UN to defend ourselves, and we have a lot of weapons in the UN.” The statement was uttered as a supposed warning to US President-elect Donald Trump, in the event that he acts upon his campaign hyperbole which included recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. He disregards the fact that successive US administrations of all political hues ignore the UN completely when it comes to Israel.

Nevertheless, perhaps in a bid to impress the imaginary receptive audience which the PA is fond of invoking when it comes to international endeavours, despite clear suggestions that it is non-existent, Mansour declared: “If the US administration wants to defy international law they are doing something illegal.” So what’s new about that?

As reported by Ma’an news agency, Mansour threatened to “reopen the whole Pandora’s Box” in specific reference to the International Criminal Court’s rulings regarding settlement expansion, thus conveying the PA’s lack of accountability when it comes to Palestinian rights within the international framework. As far as the leadership is concerned, the ICC exists as a convenient, albeit irrelevant, threat, as well as the means through which to manipulate the pursuit of justice for Palestinians.

Many questions should arise in light of Mansour’s comments, particularly with regard to the trend of denouncing the illegality of violating international law while employing the utmost effort to ensure collaboration in such violations against the Palestinian people. The history of Zionist colonisation of Palestine contains many collaborators over the decades, the most recent of which is the PA and its representatives. The UN, on the other hand, represents that permanent vehicle through which international law violations have been approved, ironically, in the name of international law. There are many precedents dating back to 1948 in which the UN has relied heavily upon the rhetoric of concern as opposed to active condemnation resulting in accountability for the colonial entity in Palestine.

Both UN inaction and action are developed according to the imperialist agenda and, as applied to different countries and scenarios, both have spelled disaster. For Palestinians, however, the international community as defined by the UN and world powers should be considered a major obstacle to achieving the recognition of their rights, the anti-colonial struggle and independence. Partial blame for this deterioration should also be placed upon the PA.

Nothing has been achieved through the UN that has benefited Palestine, yet Mansour keeps insisting upon upholding the lie, embellishing it further by alleging that the PA holds any sort of influence and sway over the institution. The abomination, and a macabre one at that, is that Palestinians are unable to voice their disapproval at a diplomatic level, because diplomacy has ensured the obliteration of resistance in case international impunity should suffer that initial laceration which would unravel its deception.

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