As the dust
settles on yet another Festive period, aftershock from the major UN
decision regarding Palestine over Christmas can certainly still be felt in the Occupied Territories. As many will know, on December 23rd, the UN
security council passed a resolution demanding a halt to the building
of Israeli settlements within the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Crucially, the usual bedrock of support to Israel in the United
States delegation abstained from voting on the resolution, enabling
this encouraging step for achieving human right's in Palestine to be taken.
This will bring hope in Palestine, as the illegal settlement situation is the a key in fuelling the cycle of violence, aswell as a direct violation of their sovereignty as a
nation. It's also a diplomatic rarity to witness the United States
partially turning it's back on the increasingly right wing government
of Israel, which it has closely supported since its creation in the 1940's. These reasons, along with
Secretary of State John Kerry's critical speech regarding Israel's
huge role in derailing the road to peace in Palestine, may hopefully see the
end of the Carte Blanche for Israel amongst the international community in it's continued abuse of human rights.
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| A Turning Point Amongst The International Community? (Photograph Manuel Ellas/AP) |
However, no
human rights are abused within the UN meeting rooms, and what many in
Palestine will be concerned about, is the effect of such
international decisions on a practical day to day level. For some,
faith in organisations such as the UN has dwindled, due to the
previous inaction over the ever growing list of UN decisions that
Israel has violated over the years. This now ever growing disbelief in the power of
internationalism is a sad reality, but can be
very much understood. Even during my experiences in Palestine only
last month, I was witness to a non existent international response to
a variety of human rights abuses that the Palestinians are
subjected to on a daily basis. A more recent and poignant example of
such though, was the case of a Palestinian woman being shot
dead by IDF soldiers in East Jerusalem just last Friday, to name just one example. Although a step in the right direction has come about internationally in
terms of settlements; hope for the future is very much intertwined
with the harsh, continued realities of the Israeli occupation in
Palestine. It's now hugely important to continue the support for human rights in the country, regardless of headline resolutions.
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| The Occupation Still Goes On. (Photograph Nayef-Saif Twitter) |
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