UN overwhelmingly votes to upgrade Palestine to ‘non-member observer state,’ will Israel retaliate?
by Madison Ruppert
Editor of End the Lie
November 29, 2012
(Image credit: 3News)
The United Nations General Assembly voted to upgrade Palestine to “non-member observer state” with an overwhelming 138 to 9 and 41 abstentions, giving Palestinians the right to join the International Criminal Court and other treaty bodies.
One must wonder, however, how much this will actually change on the ground in Palestine. Will it prevent neighboring countries from blocking access to Palestinian land as they have done multiple times?
Will it lead to less disproportionate killing in conflicts and more clarity regarding ceasefire agreements? Will it force Hamas and other militant groups to take a less aggressive stance? All this remains to be seen.
Indeed, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the vote will actually do absolutely nothing to change the situation on the ground.
“This is a meaningless resolution that won’t change anything on the ground,” said Netanyahu in a statement issued by his office shortly before the UN vote was actually held, according to Reuters.
“No Palestinian state will arise without an arrangement ensuring the security of Israeli citizens,” Netanyahu stated.
This did nothing to temper the celebration in the streets of Palestine in the wake of the vote.
However, it displays a quite significant change from how Western nations have treated Palestine in the past, evidenced by Israeli news outlet Haaretz remarking that “officials in Jerusalem understood that Israel was left without any Western support except for the United States, Canada and the Czech Republic.”
“We lost Europe,” a senior official in the Israeli Foreign Ministry said, according to Haaretz.
They cite the shift beginning in France just a few days ago. Regardless of where it started, European Union nations largely supported the Palestinian request for non-member observer state status.
“Spain, Cyprus, Portugal, Luxembourg, Finland, Denmark, Austria, Malta, Ireland, Italy, Slovenia, Belgium, Sweden, Germany and Greece all joined France in the past few days,” Haaretz reports. “Norway and Switzerland, which are not members of the European Union, also announced their support for the Palestinian request.”
However, Germany actually abstained from the vote when it came down to it.
“Thursday’s vote exposed deep divisions within Europe over Palestinian statehood, with France, Italy and Spain supporting the Palestinians, and Germany and Britain casting abstentions,” reports The Washington Post.
“Our central objective is to achieve a return to credible negotiations in order to secure a two-state solution,” said Mark Lyall-Grant, the British envoy to the UN, according to the Post.
“We looked at the United States, with the strong and active support of the United Kingdom, and the international community, to do all it can in the coming weeks and months to take a decisive lead in restarting negotiations,” Lyall-Grant added.
The unfortunate reality is that Israel very well may retaliate in response to the UN General Assembly’s vote.
“Netanyahu, while hinting Israel may seek to retaliate, made no specific mention of punitive measures, in a shift in tone after eight days of fighting around the Gaza Strip,” reported Reuters.
However, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman reportedly made some quite heated statements earlier this month on the subject of the Palestinian upgrade request.
“If the … proposal is adopted at the United Nations General Assembly, as far as we are concerned this would be a complete breaking of the rules and it will elicit an extreme response from us,” Lieberman said according to the British Telegraph.
A similarly threatening statement was made by Environment Minister Gilad Erdan three years ago, according to Reuters. Erdan reportedly said that Israel might go as far as annexing some of the 120 settlements in the West Bank.
Yet Israel has now stepped back from these statements, instead threatening to withhold the $200 million in monthly transfers of duties collected by Israel on behalf of the Palestinian Authority.
Israel “says it will cover the PA’s debt to the Israel Electric Corporation,” according to Reuters.
Palestine, however, has not shown any rush to join the International Criminal Court, where they could potentially bring a case against Israel.
They have also pledged to restart the peace process immediately after the vote, although it remains to be seen if Israel will have any interest in actually participating.
While this upgrade is still far short of the status other countries enjoy, the current chances of Palestine achieving such as status are slim to none given the U.S.’s veto power in the United Nations Security Council.
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[hat tip: Activist Post]
Bomb blast destroys Press TV cars in Syria [video]
PressTV
November 30, 2012
A new attack has targeted Iranian media outlets in Damascus. At midnight, two young men approached to the SNG vehicle which provides services to Press TV and al-Alam offices in al-Mezzeh area.
Stop Imperialism – Episode 50 [audio]
by Eric Draitser
Stop Imperialism
November 29, 2012
In today’s (50th) episode:
- 1. Syria (On the Ground) – Syrian internet goes dark
- 2. Syria (International) – The war for Syria is also a war for Iraq
- 3. Iraq – Iraq bombings target Shi’ite areas
- 4. Congo – Congolese M23 rebels say leaving positions in Goma
- 5. Under the Radar – Argentine bonds rally as U.S. ruling quells default fears
Standard Podcasts [01:53:14m]: Download | Embeddable Player
[hat tip: Land Destroyer]
Cranky Pat Condell Zionist apologist taken to the wood shed [video]
Ryan Dawson
November 26, 2012
This video was done by request it was like the third random person who asked me to do it so I went ahead and did it. Basically we have a zionist apologist who also hates religion except for Zionism. It’s a bit like Sam Harris justifying the Neocons and war propaganda with Iran. “Atheist” but still Jewish and still very colored by FAITH not facts. To be clear, to hell with Hamas but it is hardly an abnormal political reaction to the level of intense brutality that Israel has implemented over the last 6 decades. Israel killed Muhammad Abu Daqqa by shooting him the stomach from a helicopter. Type in his name gather as many sources as you want. And this was After already murdering 65 other people in Gaza this year. Where as 0 Israelis were killed. Also 5 were murdered in the West Bank as well.
FSA Make Child Soldier Dig Own Grave – Crimes of the week 1 [video]
Syrian Girl
November 30, 2012
This will be my first FSA crimes of the week instalment, i hope to make one every week. The full videos are available online had to re upload. This week the FSA:
*Film child soldier digging his own grave for propaganda purposes
*Terror Bombing of Residential area
*Film direct threat to families of Syrian Soldiers
*Sing about creating an islamic state and ethnically cleansing All Alawites
*Bomb Alalam and Press TV media station in Damascus
*Release a video of kidnapped Journalist Anhar Kochneva with forced confession and forced Hijaab
WARNING 18+: This video is not meant for shock but as a documentation of crimes, it contains images that might be distressing for some people.
Feinstein Amendment Doesn’t Prevent Indefinite Detention
by Michael Kelley
Business Insider
November 30, 2012
An amendment to the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act sponsored by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and passed by a 67-29 vote late Thursday has been hailed as a way to end the prospect of indefinite detention of U.S. citizens.
But it isn’t, because there’s a catch.
Here’s the key sentence of the amendment:
“An authorization to use military force, a declaration of war, or any similar authority shall not authorize the detention without charge or trial of a citizen or lawful permanent resident of the United States apprehended in the United States, unless an Act of Congress expressly authorizes such detention.”
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sent lawmakers a letter that said “the clause ‘unless an Act of Congress expressly authorizes such detention‘ could be read to imply that there are no constitutional obstacles to Congress enacting a statute that would authorize the domestic military detention of any person in the United States.”
Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) seemed to agree: “This is a big ‘unless,'” he said.
11-30-12 PANDA Action Update – Feinstein [video]
P.A.N.D.A. People Against The NDAA
November 30, 2012
The Feinstein amendment to the NDAA does not protect your rights, if anything, it hurts them.
Join the movement: http://www.pandaunite.org
The PANDA (People Against the NDAA Mission Statement:
Our Mission is to nonviolently nullify, strike down, repeal, stop, void and fight the indefinite detention provisions, Sections 1021 and 1022, of the National Defense Authorization Act for the Fiscal Year of 2012, to fight for American civil liberties, to combat laws restricting liberty in the interest of National Security, to support current government officials that are doing so and to engage a younger generation in the politics of the United States so this cannot happen again.
