The apathy and insensitivity shown by the powers that be, particularly the US to the genocide of the Palestinians at the hands of Israel by vetoing a resolution in the UNSC calling for ceasefire is tantamount to complicity in the war crimes. It surely will lead to more bloodshed and destruction. Already more than 17,700 people of Gaza have been killed besides unprecedented destruction of the structures. Not only that the Biden administration has used an emergency authority to allow the sale of about 14,000 tank shells to Israel without congressional review, according to an announcement by Pentagon.
The US is least bothered about the condemnation of the barbaric actions of Israel by all the humanitarian agencies and civil society groups in almost all the western countries as well all over the world. The obtaining scenario is fraught with serious consequences as it might offshoot into a regional conflict with precarious consequences at the global level. The Biden administration by showing solidarity with far-right government of Israel has made a wrong choice and has undoubtedly snubbed its allies in the Middle East and Muslim world. This is a transience of arrogance and shall not last long.
The UN Secretary General addressing Doha Forum on 10 December referring to the Gaza situation and failure of the UNSC to enforce ceasefire rightly remarked “We need a serious effort to bring global structures up to date, rooted in equality and solidarity and based on the United Nations Charter and international law. Take the Security Council. The pre-eminent forum for the peaceful resolution on international disputes is paralysed by geo-strategic divisions. This fact is undermining solutions from Ukraine to Myanmar to the Middle East. Last week, I delivered a letter to the President of the Security Council invoking Article 99 of the Charter of the United Nations for the first time since I became Secretary-General in 2017.I wrote that there is no effective protection of civilians in Gaza. As a matter of fact, during my mandate the number of civilian casualties in Gaza in such a short period is totally unprecedented. I said that we are facing a severe risk of collapse of the humanitarian system.
“The situation is fast deteriorating into a catastrophe with potentially irreversible implications for Palestinians as a whole and for peace and security in the region. And I urged the Security Council to press to avert a humanitarian catastrophe and I reiterated my appeal for a humanitarian ceasefire to be declared. Regrettably, the Security Council failed to do it, but that does not make it less necessary. So, I can promise I will not give up.”
The UN secretary General in his address has highlighted that the UNSC stands paralysed by geo-strategic divisions and consequently it is difficult to resolve the on-going conflicts including in Gaza; the world is faced with collapse of humanitarian system. He has also expressed his helplessness in getting the things moving.
The inference that can be easily drawn from his observations is that the United Nations as a whole is hostage to the machinations of the big powers which enjoy the veto power and look at global issues from the perspective of their own strategic and geo-political interests rather than abide by the UN charter and humanitarian considerations.
US and its allies including UK and EU countries have invariably supported and encouraged Israel to continue with its genocide of the Palestinian people, usurping their territory for settlements in defiance of UN resolutions and also remaining criminally oblivious to the two-state solution agreed by the global community. If the USA were really interested in peace in Middle East and stop genocide of Palestinians it could have made efforts to end the conflict by forcing its ally to cooperate in regards to implementation of the two-state solution on which the entire global community agrees. But regrettably it does not seem interested in it.
The UN is helpless in playing its role as a peace making body because the UN Charter accords veto power to the five nuclear powers. This Charter was drawn up by the triumphant powers of the World War-II who through this document made sure to fashion the world according to their own strategic and geo-political interests. No dispute can be resolved without the consent of all the five countries enjoying veto power.
The US and its allied nuclear powers have always refrained from condemning Israel for its war crimes and have invariably used veto power to sabotage any resolution in this regard making mockery of the UN role as a peace maker and the principles enshrined in its charter. It has even used the forum of UN to achieve its imperialist objectives. It duped the UN and global community about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq on the basis of which it launched attack on that country to remove and eliminate Saddam Hussain.
The US is either responsible for conflicts around the globe or is providing clandestine support to one of the parties to the conflicts and is obstructing their resolution. It has an abysmal record as far as human rights are concerned for which Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp provides a ranting testimony. It is a country which is culprit of humanity. It used the nuclear bombs in Japan killing millions of people. It is responsible for millions of deaths in wars in Korea, Viet Nam and Cambodia as well as perennial injustice and instability in the Middle East. The inference one can draw from the track record of USA is that it is an evil power bereft of human virtues and humanitarian instincts.
Palestine is a classic case of the callousness of USA and its allies and their aversion to the human values when it comes to realisation of their geo-strategic interests. Regrettably Islamic countries are also helpless in dissuading these powers from their evil acts and end the agony of the Palestinian people. They might have a common religion but they lack political solidarity required to put pressure on the perpetrators of oppression.
The present conflict in Gaza and the stance taken by USA should be an eye opener for them. Until and unless the Muslim countries under the banner of OIC forge impregnable political unity and form a bloc of their own they will not be in a position to do any thing for Palestine and protect the interests of the Muslim countries. The US and Western countries keep using sanctions against other counties on various grounds. It was perhaps now a time for the Muslim world to impose sanctions against the countries supporting Israel in the massacre of Palestinian people. There is no other way to stop them in their tracks.