The UN’s colonial fabrication of human rights

The UN has repeatedly and uselessly declared itself against the forced transfer of the Palestinian people. Yet under its watch, the Zionist paramilitaries, precursors to the Israeli military, carried out the first large scale ethnic cleansing in 1948. Israel continued to expel Palestinians from their homes and villages, leading to the current genocide. While Israel continues to gain ground in obliterating the Palestinian people, the UN exhibits its warped logic repeatedly – proclaiming itself against forced transfer while legitimising Israel, because forced transfer is against international law and colonialism is not, apparently. 

If one looks at UN reasoning, or the lack of it, the UN is only concerned with protecting the illusion of international law at the expense of the oppressed, in this case, the Palestinian people. Since the beginning of the genocide, Israel has openly discussed forcibly transferring Palestinians under the guise of ‘voluntary migration’. 

Yesterday, Reuters reported that a proposal to build camps called ‘Humanitarian Transit Areas’ to facilitate the forced transfer of Palestinians was submitted to the White House for consideration. The Gaza Humanitarian Fund (GHF) is said to be linked to the $2 billion plan. 

The camps are described as places where Palestinians in Gaza can “temporarily reside, deradicalise, reintegrate and prepare to relocate if they wish to do so.” It is also in alignment with the Trump administration’s plans for Gaza, which eventually envisages prime real estate built on stolen Palestinian land, above the mass graves of Palestinians killed in Israel’s genocide, one must add. 

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US and Israeli officials did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comments, while the GHF denied that the document pertains to its organisation. 

Whatever the denials may be, the truth is that Israel and its genocidal backers are moving at incredible speed, while the UN busies itself with protecting legislation instead of people, not to mention the two-state diplomacy. It failed to strengthen its own humanitarian paradigm and rendered UNRWA vulnerable from its inception. When UNRWA was created, Israel was reassured of its existence. There is no way a colonial power with military backing and enjoying international endorsement for its atrocities can back down in the face of a humanitarian organisation dependent on donor funds from the same countries funding Israeli colonialism.

Hence, forced displacement remained a recurring reality for Palestinians. Normalised, too, until Israel’s genocide stretched the parameters of acceptability yet again, so that Palestinians now face a situation in which their fate is decided by colonialism, imperialism and mercenaries on one hand, and the institution masquerading as protector of human rights on the other. 

Does the UN have plans to counter Israel’s forced displacement of the Palestinian people in Gaza? Highly unlikely, considering it had no plans to counter genocide either. Despite projecting itself as essential, the UN is merely an assembly of countries that are well versed in colonialism or pandering to colonialism. The colonised have no voice at the UN, yet they are expected to rely on the institution for protection. In between mercenaries masquerading as humanitarian organisations, and human rights institutions protecting colonial genocide, Palestinians have no space to turn to, and the UN is sealing the macabre deal.

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