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Thursday, November 27, 2014

How's that "International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People" going?

On January 16, the UN launched the "International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People." Because clearly the annual International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, plus the many UN committees and groups and organizations dedicated exclusively to "Palestine," were not enough to bring peace.

Here is how the UN described their hopes for this year:

“The coming year will be crucial to achieving the two-State solution,” Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson said in his remarks to the UN General Assembly’s Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People.

“The Secretary-General and I urge all in the international community to work together to translate the solidarity and desire for peace expressed on this occasion into positive action for security and for justice.”

Last November, the General Assembly adopted a resolution proclaiming 2014 as the International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, and requested the Committee to organize activities around the observance.

General Assembly President John Ashe told today’s meeting that he hoped the Year leads to “robust” support for the people of Palestine. “I am sure I speak for many when I say that I hope the Year helps foster an atmosphere of dialogue and mutual understanding between the two sides of this decades-long conflict,” he said.

“We live in an international context that requires cooperation among all parties, entities and beings to find solutions to the challenges facing the human family. There are no exceptions; Israel and Palestine must find agreement on the conditions in which they can live side by side in peace and security.”

UN officials, including Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, have noted that 2014 could be a an important year in the Middle East peace process, if both sides are willing to take bold steps and refrain from actions that undermine progress in the peace talks that resumed last year.
Well, by these criteria, the year has been an utter failure. And, as sure as night follows day, the UN had a session blaming Israel.

No one at the UN seems to have realized that the UN's a priori declaring that one side is right and the other side is wrong, as the International Year implies, is a major factor working against peace.

Notice how in January the UN officials were saying they wanted both sides to work together and to make compromises for peace. But when the most important international organization puts so many resources behind supporting the PLO terror group and demonizing Israel, their actions belie their words. The PLO has no incentive to make any sort of compromise with Israel when they are spending all their time attending the numerous meetings and gala dinners celebrating how much the world supports them during this year.

The PLO did make one compromise this year - with Hamas, by inviting the terror group to join their own Fatah terror group into an ill-fated "unity" government. That is the major accomplishment of the "International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People": the Palestinians refused to talk peace with Israel and instead swore solidarity with an internationally recognized terror group.

As recently as this week, official Palestinian media supported terror attacks against Jewish civilians while worshipping, another result of the international community's  refusal to hold them accountable for anything, ever.

The PLO knows quite well that the UN will not say a word against them no matter what they do. They are basking in being the object of adoration for an entire year. The calculus is clear: they would rather wait for the world to force Israel to give in to their threats and terror rather than make a single compromise for peace.

And we can thank the UN for this result.