The EU has largely come around to the Palestinian cause, while the United States _ the election of its first minority president notwithstanding _ is still makes excuses for the Israeli occupation
Nick Ferriman
As Barack Obama prepares for his presidency, the sub-prime fiasco has morphed into a global financial disaster. This is not the only threat to his leadership. The war on terror has brought American prestige to an all-time low. If the US has any hope of regaining its moral leadership, then Mr Obama's administration must tackle the legacy of abuse it has been bequeathed.
Iran, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay will rightly figure prominently in repairing America's human rights record, but one issue stands out for fueling resentment in the Muslim world _ the Israeli-Palestine conflict. And today, United Nations Palestinian Day, is an opportune time to remind the 44th US president of the challenges to justice that lie ahead.
Belatedly at the Annapolis, Maryland, peace meeting a year ago, President George W Bush recognised the importance to the war on terror of a resolution to the Israeli-Palestine conflict. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has visited the region many times since to encourage Israel to loosen its grip, but little has changed. In fact, life for the Palestinians has gotten worse.
In October, the World Bank issued yet another report detailing the continued downward spiral of the Palestinian economy. Only goods smuggled in through the tunnels under the border to Egypt keep one and a half million people in Gaza from starvation. Corralled, humiliated and made penniless, the Palestinians are excoriated for resisting the Israeli yoke.
In flagrant breach of international humanitarian law, the ''quartet'' made up of the US, Russia, the European Union, and the United Nations sided with Israel in its illegal blockade of Gaza. On realising the enormity of the democratic deficit, the EU has since back-tracked. To its credit, it has refused to offer EU membership to Israel until it abides by its treaty commitments, and ends the occupation.
In Europe, there are few illusions about Israel's role in perpetuating the conflict. One EU parliamentary delegation after another to the West Bank has come under physical assault from either Israeli settlers or the Israel Defence Forces (IDF). European politicians have seen enough to demand a campaign of boycott, disinvestment and sanctions against Israel. The UK has started by calling for the withdrawal of Israel's EU trading privileges.
In areas where nation states are loath to tread, civil society has stepped in. At the request of UK civil rights groups, warrants have been issued for the arrest of Avi Dichter, an Israeli minister and former head of Shin Bet, wanted on war crimes charges. Similar warrants have been issued in Holland for the arrest of IDF generals.
Jewish groups are at the forefront in demanding justice for the Palestinians. JStreet in the US, and Jews for Justice in the UK are just two examples. Individual Israelis, such as professors Illan Pappe and Nev Gordon are scathing in their criticism of Israel's abuses, while activists such as Gordon Levy of the B'Tselem human rights organisation and Jeff Halper of the Israeli Committee against House Demolitions are outspoken in their condemnation of Israel's violations of international law.
International legal institutions are also tightening the screws. At the International Criminal Court in The Hague, the development of international jurisprudence through the use of case law, , is making it increasingly difficult for anyone in the Israeli security forces with blood on their hands to enter the EU on private business without fearing arrest.
The promotion of Keir Starmer, a human rights lawyer, to head of the UK Crown Prosecution Service is indicative of the frantic efforts of the UK establishment to distance itself from the US on human rights. Mr Starmer recently persuaded the House of Lords, for example, to reject as inadmissible any evidence gained under torture. This rendered null and void all persecution evidence submitted by US intelligence services. And as a consequence of the disturbing testimony of SAS trooper Ben Griffin, after his service alongside the US in Iraq, a law is now in front of parliament forbidding the British Army to hand over prisoners to countries like the US or Israel who reject the UN Convention against Torture.
In contrast, the US appears oblivious to the effect its support of a racist, apartheid state is having on global public opinion. In fact, its citizens are active in attempts to dispossess the Palestinians of what little they have left. In the West Bank, for example, Reuters has highlighted the role US organisations have played in channelling over $35 million (1.2 billion baht) into building yet more illegal Israeli settlements.
Despite this breach of international law, and the peace process, the US government has ignored requests to halt this flow of funds, merely stating that Israeli settlement activity is unhelpful. . This contrasts with the pressure the US government has exerted on foreign companies to sever their links with Palestinian charities, or face prosecution.
As the first African American president, one might expect Barack Obama to take a more principled stand. Certainly, he has spoken of his exposure as a youth in Indonesia to public opinion which saw US actions as inherently undemocratic. More specifically, he has spoken of the need to view the Israeli-Palestine conflict other than through the eyes of Likud, the right-wing Israeli political party.
Unfortunately, Mr Obama's recent declarations that Jerusalem is the undivided capital of Israel _ in defiance of the historical evidence and international legal judgements _ shows a predilection to side with the Israeli colonial settlers. Although this fits the historical US perspective, it does not bode well.
When one looks at Mr Obama's cabinet, there is even greater disquiet. The name which leaps out from the newsprint is that of Rahm Israel Emanuel, Mr Obama's choice as White House chief of staff and the son of a member of the militant Zionist organisation Irgun, which was responsible for bombing the King David Hotel in Jerusalem in 1946. Mr Emanuel is closely associated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac). He was strongly in favour of the war in Iraq, and used his position as the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee to select candidates who were pro-war. Not surprisingly, he is a staunch supporter of Israel's occupation of the West Bank. This is the man who will be gatekeeper to the Oval Office.
The US constitution drew its inspiration from John Locke, who highlighted the interplay of three basic rights: life, liberty and property ownership. Can democracies exist when they knowingly sell the life and liberty of others to finance their own well-being? No. Is it coincidental that after its illegal invasions that the West now faces its biggest financial disaster since the Great Depression? No. Will Mr Obama reverse the American trajectory and offer the Palestinians a fair deal? Unlikely.
Nick Ferriman is a founding member of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign Thailand and teaches at Mahidol University International College
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