Another shot across the Biden bow! Ron Prosor, a former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, urged the Biden administration not to rejoin two UN bodies that deal with human rights issues, UNESCO and the UN Human Rights Council, because the U.S. presence even in dissent grants greater legitimacy to “science fiction” opinions critical of Israel. He also warned Biden not to fund the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.
Donald Trump ended funding for UNRWA, pulled the U.S. out of UNESCO, and pulled the U.S. out of the Human Rights Council, citing its “bias” against Israel.
Biden has pledged to return to the Human Rights Council, said he would rejoin other international bodies, and suggested that he would refund UNRWA.
Not so fast, Joe! Prosor, an ambassador under Netanyahu and now head of a diplomatic institute in Israel, indirectly addressed the Biden administration policy on UNESCO and the HRC during an American Jewish Committee discussion on Nov. 29.
The bottom line for the United States of America– the minute you are in something, let’s say the Council on Human Rights, which I call the Council on Human Wrongs… the minute you are there, the decisions that they make, by the fact you are there, you are legitimizing those decisions. The minute you go out you basically say, Hey guys, anything you say or write is not really serious, ok? So I think this is an important point for the U.S. to make, in saying we cannot influence a decision, we cannot leverage anything in the Council on Human Rights or UNESCO, it’s better for us not to be there to give it legitimacy.
When you’re out, you automatically pull the carpet away from under decisions which of course I don’t even want to get into– they are on the verge of science fiction.
Prosor directly warned Biden not to go near UNRWA, saying that UNRWA perpetuates the conflict by honoring Palestinian refugee status for generations; and this is a form of “incitement.”
It’s unbelievable what they keep on doing in today’s world. This has to change dramatically, and I hope the next administration will continue with the same line.
The Biden campaign has said he would restore “humanitarian aid for the Palestinian people”, but did not directly mention UNRWA.
In that same conference call, organized by the American Jewish Committee on Nov. 29, the 73d anniversary of the partition resolution, David Harris explained the failure of Palestinians to get a state.
As Ron has said, If the Arab world had said Yes rather than No on this day 73 years ago we might have had a two state solution for the ensuing 70-plus years. But decisions have consequences, and the consequence of saying No unfortunately is still being felt.”
The vote on partition was 33-13-0. Six of the No’s were Arab states: Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
By putting Palestinian statelessness on those states’ actions 73 years ago, Harris thereby dismisses a long history of more than 30 years of Palestinians themselves accepting partition.
Ron Prosor gave props to the Israel lobby for helping to bring about that vote in the General Assembly. In a story new to me, he said that Harvey Firestone, founder of the tire company that bears his name, put pressure on Liberia to vote for the plan.
Liberia I would even brand as a flat tire issue because in Liberia there was a very interesting person called Harvey Firestone who had direct contac twith the president of Liberia. Why? Because all the rubber that we know was basically produced in Liberia, he phoned the president and told him you have to vote for Israel and this is how the phrase came, basically, When the rubber hits the road…. So Liberia was on board.
Prosor said that U.S. Jews put their shoulder to the wheel on the UN partition resolution, and we need to keep strengthening “the bond between Israel and the Jewish people.”
[Partition was] an amazing lesson to when we work together, when we hold hands, when we cooperate, oh boy there’s no one no one in the world that really can do anything to us. The message is, the Jewish people all around the world, we should respect each other, we should work with each other, and at the end of the day achieve amazing results.
Don’t forget that the UN partition resolution of 29 Nov 1947 was just a RECOMMENDATION. It was not a decision. It was up to the people of Palestine to really decide, and 90% of the original inhabitants from before the British occupation were against partition. Then the Zionists founded their state based on military violence and large scale ethnic cleansing!
Part 1 of 2.
Recommendatory only (i.e., no legal status, contrary to the terms of the British Class A Mandate & the Atlantic Charter, never adopted by the UNSC & grossly unfair to the native Palestinian Arabs), the Partition Plan (Res. 181) was passed by the UNGA on 29 November, 1947 as a result of enormous Zionist prompted U.S. pressure & bullying tactics:
Although the Philippines initially opposed Res. 181 & Liberia & Haiti wanted to abstain, the United States pressured these countries to vote in favour, thereby gaining the necessary two-thirds approval. “Under threat of a Jewish boycott of Firestone rubber & tire products, Harvey Firestone told Liberia that he would recommend suspension of plans for the expansion of development there if Liberia voted against partition.” (Michael Cohen, Palestine and the Great Powers, 1945-1948, 1982)
These & other bullying tactics were aptly described by James Forrestal, then U.S. Secretary of Defence: “The methods that had been used…to bring coercion & duress on other nations in the General Assembly bordered closely onto scandal.” (Millis, Walter, ed., The Forrestal Diaries, New York: the Viking Press, 1951)
Despite massive Jewish immigration during the British Mandate, Jews comprised just 31% of the population & privately owned only 6 to 7% of the land. Outrageously, the Partition Plan recommended Jews receive 56% of Palestine as a state!! (Native Arab Palestinian Jews comprised 10% of the Jewish population & were opposed to Zionism.)
48% of the total land area of mandated Palestine was privately owned (‘mulk khaas’) by Palestinian Arabs. About 45% of the total land area was state owned (i.e., by its citizens)* and it was comprised of Communal Property (‘mashaa’), Endowment Property, (‘waqf’), & Government Property, (‘miri’.) The British Mandate kept an extensive land registry & the UN used the registry during its early deliberations. It has in its archives 453,000 records of individual Palestinian owners defined by name, location & area. *Only 30% of the Jewish immigrants had taken out citizenship & tens of thousands were illegals. (cont’d)
Part 2 of 2
Land ownership in all of mandated Palestine on Nov. 29, 1947: By Sub district – Acre: 87% Palestinian owned, 3% Jewish owned, 10% state owned; Safed: 68% Palestinian owned, 18% Jewish owned, 14% state owned; Haifa: 42% Palestinian owned, 35% Jewish owned, 23% state owned; Nazareth: 52% Palestinian owned, 28% Jewish owned, 20% state owned; Tiberias: 51% Palestinian owned, 38% Jewish owned, 11% state owned; Jenin: 84% Palestinian owned, less than 1% Jewish owned, 16% state owned; Beisnan: 44% Palestinian owned, 34% Jewish owned, 22% state owned; Tulkarm: 78% PalestinIan owned; 17% Jewish owned, 5% state owned; Nablus: 87% Palestinian owned, less than 1% Jewish owned, 13% state owned; Jaffa: 47% Palestinian owned, 39% Jewish owned, 14% state owned; Ramleh: 77% Palestinian owned, 14% Jewish owned, 9% state owned; Ramallah: 99% Palestinian owned, less than 1% Jewish owned, less than 1% state owned; Jerusalem (West and East): 84% Palestinian owned, 2% Jewish owned, 14% state owned; Gaza: 75% Palestinian owned, 4% Jewish owned, 21% state owned; Hebron: 96% Palestinian owned, less than 1% Jewish owned, 4% state owned; Bersheeba: 15% Palestinian owned, less than 1% Jewish owned, 85% state owned. (Village Statistics, Jerusalem: Palestine Government, 1945.)
Regarding land ownership in West & East Jerusalem in 1947: The total land area of West Jerusalem (the New City) was 19,331 dunams (about 4,833 acres) of which 40 per cent was owned by Palestinian Muslims and Christians, 26.12 per cent by Jews & 13.86 per cent by others, including Christian communities. Government & municipal land made up 2.90 per cent and roads and railways 17.12 per cent.
East Jerusalem (the Old City) consisted of 800 dunams (about 200 acres) of which five dunams (just over one acre) were Jewish owned and the remaining 795 dunams were owned by Palestinian Muslims and Christians. (“Assessing Palestinian Property in the City,” by Dalia Habash and Terry Rempel, Jerusalem 1948: The Arab Neighbourhoods & their Fate in the War, 1999, pp. 184-85)
The US meddles…israel meddles…Who taught whom?
Undermining the work of the UN is not in the best interests of the US. The fact the US belongs to a given international organization does not mean the US endorses every action of that organization.