Unprecedented UN participation
On Monday, Secty. Gen. of the UN, Ban ki Moon, announced that Israel had given its assent to participate in the Committee of Enquiry voted on by the Security Council into the Turkish flotilla incident. Israel will now join a "credible, transparent and objective" panel consisting of the former PM of New Zealand, the former President of Colombia, and Turkish and Israeli representatives. This is the first time that Israel has agreed to participate in a UN panel and this is unprecedented.
Why has PM Netanyahu and his Cabinet agreed to this, when all previous UN panels have been distinguished by their clear bias against Israel from the start? For example, the Goldstone Report one-sidedly pilloried Israel and ignored most of Hamas' crimes against humanity. But, there are two big differences between this "Flotilla Panel" and the previous ones. First, they were mostly set up by the UN Human RIghts Council, that is dominated by Muslim States and dictatorships. They are happy to focus almost entirely on Israel and avoid consideration of the many more serious instances of human rights violations, such as those of the British and US forces in Afghanistan, the Russians in Chechnya, the Sudanese in Darfur and the Chinese in Tibet. But, the current panel was set up by the SC and is under the authority of the Secty. Gen. himself.
Second, the fact that the Turkish Government has already agreed to appoint a member to the Committee, and Moon's commitment to Netanyahu that Israel will be able to submit all its information and it will be treated in a "credible, transparent and objective manner." The Committee is the fifth one to be appointed to study this one incident. There have been two IDF enquiries, one set up by the Israeli Government, the Turkel Commission, that is only just beginning its work, and one established by the UN HRC. But, this additional UN SC enquiry will rely on both the Israeli and Turkish enquiries for their input, and the Secty. Gen. may then cancel the UN HRC enquiry as being redundant. Also, it is rumored that there may have been a deal between Turkey and Israel to use this panel as a means to stepping back from the current very bad relations between the two countries, if the results show that both sides were at fault. Certainly Israel believes that its case, of the Turkish militants deliberately initiating the violence, is a good one. On the other hand, the findings could serve to exacerbate the bad relations, and this might not augur well for future Israeli participation in such Panels.
The greater involvement of Israel in the UN process and the lodging of complaints by Israel with the SC against, for instance, Lebanon and Hamas, for their initiation of deadly incidents that take and/or endanger Israeli civilian lives, contrary to UN SC resolutions, may indicate a greater general participation of Israel in the international agency.
Why has PM Netanyahu and his Cabinet agreed to this, when all previous UN panels have been distinguished by their clear bias against Israel from the start? For example, the Goldstone Report one-sidedly pilloried Israel and ignored most of Hamas' crimes against humanity. But, there are two big differences between this "Flotilla Panel" and the previous ones. First, they were mostly set up by the UN Human RIghts Council, that is dominated by Muslim States and dictatorships. They are happy to focus almost entirely on Israel and avoid consideration of the many more serious instances of human rights violations, such as those of the British and US forces in Afghanistan, the Russians in Chechnya, the Sudanese in Darfur and the Chinese in Tibet. But, the current panel was set up by the SC and is under the authority of the Secty. Gen. himself.
Second, the fact that the Turkish Government has already agreed to appoint a member to the Committee, and Moon's commitment to Netanyahu that Israel will be able to submit all its information and it will be treated in a "credible, transparent and objective manner." The Committee is the fifth one to be appointed to study this one incident. There have been two IDF enquiries, one set up by the Israeli Government, the Turkel Commission, that is only just beginning its work, and one established by the UN HRC. But, this additional UN SC enquiry will rely on both the Israeli and Turkish enquiries for their input, and the Secty. Gen. may then cancel the UN HRC enquiry as being redundant. Also, it is rumored that there may have been a deal between Turkey and Israel to use this panel as a means to stepping back from the current very bad relations between the two countries, if the results show that both sides were at fault. Certainly Israel believes that its case, of the Turkish militants deliberately initiating the violence, is a good one. On the other hand, the findings could serve to exacerbate the bad relations, and this might not augur well for future Israeli participation in such Panels.
The greater involvement of Israel in the UN process and the lodging of complaints by Israel with the SC against, for instance, Lebanon and Hamas, for their initiation of deadly incidents that take and/or endanger Israeli civilian lives, contrary to UN SC resolutions, may indicate a greater general participation of Israel in the international agency.
posted by Jack Cohen at 11:27 AM
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