Daphne Anson: David Singer: Paris Buries Palestine and UN Security Council Resolution 2334

Eretz Israel is our unforgettable historic homeland...The Jews who will it shall achieve their State...And whatever we attempt there for our own benefit will redound mightily and beneficially to the good of all mankind. (Theodor Herzl, DerJudenstaat, 1896)

We offer peace and amity to all the neighbouring states and their peoples, and invite them to cooperate with the independent Jewish nation for the common good of all. The State of Israel is ready to contribute its full share to the peaceful progress and development of the Middle East. (From Proclamation of the State of Israel, 5 Iyar 5708; 14 May 1948)

With a liberal democratic political system operating under the rule of law, a flourishing market economy producing technological innovation to the benefit of the wider world, and a population as educated and cultured as anywhere in Europe or North America, Israel is a normal Western country with a right to be treated as such in the community of nations.... For the global jihad, Israel may be the first objective. But it will not be the last. (Friends of Israel Initiative)

Monday, 16 January 2017

David Singer: Paris Buries Palestine and UN Security Council Resolution 2334

Here's the latest article by Sydney lawyer and international affairs analyst David Singer.

He writes:

72 States and Organizations meeting in Paris on 15 January have repudiated Security Council Resolution 2334 (“UNSCR 2334”) just – three weeks after it was passed on 23 December 2016.

UNSCR 2334 had reiterated the Security Council’s

“vision of a region where two democratic States, Israel and Palestine, live side by side in peace within secure and recognized borders”

The final Paris communique dumped this “two democratic states solution” by reaffirming:

“that a negotiated solution with two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security, is the only way to achieve enduring peace”.

The word “democratic” was in fact omitted in the Paris communique in nine places – signalling that Paris did not accept the definitive terms of the “two-state solution” proposed by the Security Council.

The Paris communique deliberately sought to mislead and deceive what UNSCR 2334 had actually stated – declaring the participants:

“welcomed international efforts to advance Middle East peace, including the adoption of United Nations Security Council resolution 2334 on 23 December 2016 which … called on both sides to take steps to advance the two state solution on the ground;"

– blatantly failing to identify that it was the “two democratic states solution” that was envisioned in UNSCR 2334.

Paris went even further in attempting to gloss over the obligation for any Palestinian State to be democratic – the communique noting:

“the importance of addressing the dire humanitarian and security situation in the Gaza Strip and called for swift steps to improve the situation”.

No mention about addressing the absence of democracy in Gaza – where Hamas has denied the Arab population any elections for the last 10 years.

Paris omitted any reference to the only framework within which Israel and the PLO have been negotiating during the last 13 years – the 2003 Bush Roadmap – which clearly states:

“A settlement, negotiated between the parties, will result in the emergence of an independent, democratic, and viable Palestinian state living side by side in peace and security with Israel and its other neighbors.”

The Paris communique:

“called on both sides to take steps to advance the two-state solution on the ground ; the recommendations of the Quartet on 1 July 2016; and the United States Secretary of State’s principles on the two-state solution on 28 December 2016”.

However one Quartet recommendation states:

“Gaza and the West Bank should be reunified under a single, legitimate and democratic Palestinian authority on the basis of the PLO platform and Quartet principles and the rule of law, including control over all armed personnel and weapons in accordance with existing agreements.”

Kerry mentioned “two-state solution” 29 times but never once uttered the word “democratic”.

Israel should now not fall into the trap of negotiating with any entity less than one already democratically elected and functioning in Areas “A” and “B” of the West Bank and Gaza – nor rely on any promises of democracy emerging there in the future.

Paris has managed to bury the “two democratic states solution” in just 24 hours.

The Roadmap and UNSCR 2334 have received the last rites.

Perhaps the Security Council and the Paris participants should now consider the “two-state solution” first envisaged in 1922:

One Jewish State – Israel – and one Arab State – Jordan – in the territory covered by the Mandate for Palestine.

This territorial subdivision has already happened in 95 per cent of the Mandate territory. It can happen very quickly in the remaining 5 per cent.

In fact it only involves redrawing the existing international boundary between Israel and Jordan – two states already living side by side in peace within secure and recognised borders.

Simple and achievable.

36 comments:

Noah F16 January 2017 at 21:40
David,

I don't understand your hang-up with the word 'Democratic' being included in the Paris Communique or in any document regarding an Arab "Palestinian" state.

Firstly, based on its Declaration of Independence ("DOI"), Israel is NOT a Democracy and the word 'Democracy' is never mentioned in the DOI. It is defined as and is a "Jewish State in the Land of Israel". Even if not in a Halachic sense (it should be), it still is a Jewish State.

Further, the two Basic Laws which call Israel a "Jewish & Democratic" state are ambiguous at best. In fact, tere is no way to call Israel a purely democratic state (whatever that is) given the Jewish right of return, the Flag, the Anthem, etc.

Nor should it be a Democracy. Instead, it must be a Jewish state, which gives preeminence to Jewish Civil Law from the Torah. Both Jabotinsky and Begin, neither of whom were 'religious', would have agreed with this point of view.

Secondly, a democracy technically is a form of government in which the people decide policy matters directly. In effect, it is a tyranny of the majority. In fact, the United States is a republic, not a democracy.

3. Finally, Syria, Lebanon and Turkey (to name a few Arab states) officially are democracies. However, in practice they are far from it or anything close.

To me the inclusion or exclusion of the term 'democracy' in regard to a potential Arab "Palestinian" state is irrelevant.

What matters is where the lines are drawn and on whose terms.
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Empress Trudy17 January 2017 at 00:27
All this is trying to do is uninvent Israel by erasing the past 70 years of actual history. There are no 'do-overs', sorry. Partition happened. Wars happened. And this is what happens over the long course of history. The idea that some French officials in some cartography room can wave a pointer over a map to re-de-colonialize the Levant is either retarded or insane.
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borhani17 January 2017 at 06:35
David, Good post, thank you. If only the world would remember the obligations it made to the Jewish people in 1922. That IS the two-state solution.

Noah, David Singer correct. The point you are trying to make (if there is one) is being lost by your churlish pedantry.

Israel is democratic by any common understanding of what "democratic" means. In keeping with the terms of the Mandate for Palestine, as well as the Declaration of Independence, Israel guarantees equal *civil* and *religious* (freedom to practice, or not, as one chooses) to all its citizens.

By contrast, as Singer points out, the Palestinian Authority is not democratic (Abbas is now in his 13th year of a 4-year term; the last parliamentary elections took place 11 years ago)---rather, it is a thuggish kleptocracy, like much of the rest of the Arab world. Hamas is also not democratic---rather, it is a kleptocratic, brutal, religious dictatorship.

Singer's point---and it is an important one, in my view---is that the vaunted international community support for a "democratic" two-state is evanescent. It's like the Cheshire Cat's smile.

We would all get one step closer to peace if the international community would be brutally, publicly honest about what the PA and Hamas actually *are*, and tell them and the rest of the world that they are not going to get a state for themselves until and unless they both change their (non-democratic) ways and recognize the right of the *Jewish* State of Israel to exist in peace and security.
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borhani17 January 2017 at 14:52
Unilateral action, ensure our survival: Yes, I agree, Israel should take a bit more initiative.
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Noah F19 January 2017 at 13:58
David,

On a separate note, if Abbas refused the insanely generous and dangerous Ehud Olmerts offer in 2008, is there any offer the Arabs would accept?
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