United Nations Charter Article 27 Section3:
3. Decisions of the Security Council on all other matters shall be made by an affirmative vote of nine members including the concurring votes of the permanent members; provided that, in decisions under Chapter VI, and under paragraph 3 of Article 52, a party to a dispute shall abstain from voting.
Who Created the Gaza Dispute and Why?
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has made the claim that Gaza is the largest terrorist base ever built. I think there is a great deal of truth in that claim, but there is also a great deal of truth in the claim that Gaza is one of the biggest, if not the biggest, concentration camps in the world. The question is, who created it, why, and what can we do to change the dynamics that led to its creation. To truly understand the dynamics involved we need to look back to the late 1800s and the relationship between the United States and the Jewish people and the cost of that relationship.
Jewish people have lived in the Americas since the 1500s, but their number was very limited. By 1850 approximately 50,000 Jews lived in the United States. Newspaper articles from that era make it clear most were religiously moderate, marriages between Jews and Gentiles was fairly common as was religious conversion in both directions. Antisemitism was minimal and American Jews were fully integrated into American society.
As antisemitism increased in Europe during the late 1800s there was a dramatic increase in Eastern European immigration to the U.S. and many of the Jews coming to America at that time were very fundamentalist by nature. Those fundamentalist advocated strict adherence to Jewish tradition, Jewish law, and strict separation of Jews and Gentiles. At the same time the non-Jewish immigration from Eastern Europe brought their prejudices and antisemitism with them, also preaching the need for the separation of Jews and Gentiles.
As tensions began to increase the debate over how to handle the growing immigration problems began to appear in newspaper articles like “The Land of Promise for the Jews” which appeared in the New York Sun on May 19, 1903. By 1910 the Jewish population in the United States was rapidly approaching 2,000,000. That rapid increase in Jewish population brought with it a rapid increase in fundamentalists and Zionists advocating a Jewish homeland. As anti immigration and antisemitism grew, politicians and newspaper editorials began to advocate for a Jewish homeland and restrictions on immigration to the United States. On November 2nd, 1917 Britain issued the Balfour Declaration in support of a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine. U.S. President Woodrow Wilson endorsed both the Balfour Declaration and the League of Nations-sanctioning the British administrative power over Palestine making the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine an American priority.
The problem with that policy was the fact that Palestine was occupied by people who’s families had lived on and worked the land for a thousand years. The Ottoman Empire census of 1890 put the Jewish population of Palestine at approximately 18,000 people. The problem with the American and British policy was simple, if you are going to bring in millions of Jewish immigrants and build a Jewish homeland you must somehow clear the land of Palestinians. That process began as a Jewish Insurgency and gorilla war against the British and Palestinians with America turning a blind eye to both human and arms trafficking involved.
On November 29, 1947, the United Nations passed UN Resolution 181 calling for the partition of the British mandate of Palestine into a Jewish state and an Arab state. It was a solution that no one in Palestine really wanted. The Jews wanted a return to their ancestral homeland that they had lost over two thousand years ago, and the non-Jewish population wanted the homes and land they had lived on for centuries. UN resolution 181 simply made the situation worse and increased the Arab/Israeli tension and violence. On April 9, 1948 Israeli forces attacked and destroyed the Arab village of Deir Yassin killing over 100 of it inhabitants. It was a terrorist act which spread fear throughout the non-Jewish communities. The British mandate over Palestine was due to end on May 15, 1948. On May 14, 1948, in Tel Aviv, Jewish Agency Chairman David Ben-Gurion proclaimed the State of Israel. President Truman recognized the provisional Jewish government as the de facto authority of the Jewish State on that same day. The violence between Arabs and Jews escalate immediately turning into an all out war as Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon joined the fight. By the time the war ended in July 1949, 600,0000 to 700,000 Palestinians had been expelled from their homes and began setting up refugee camps, primarily within the Gaza strip. Whether you view Gaza as a terrorist training camp or a concentration camp we need to acknowledge the fact that Gaza is a 41 square kilometer strip of land, 25 miles long and 3.5 to 7.5 miles wide enclosed by a twenty foot tall fences, topped with razor wire and under constant surveillance. A fence built by Israel to separate Jews and Palestinians. A fence built with American political support, aid, and protection.
The support for the Zionist movement may have provided a short term solution to immigration problems, rising antisemitism and political unrest hear in the United States by diverted Jewish extremest immigration from the US to Palestine, but it has destabilized the Middle East and lead to civil unrest and war throughout the world. At least six Israeli Arab wars, and even the terrorist attacks of al-Qaeda, the rise of Islamic State, and the war against terrorism can be linked to American support for the Balfour Declaration and American Middle East Foreign Policy. The US wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria can all be linked to US unconditional support for Israel and Saudi Arabia. We have used the Unanimous Consent clause of the UN Charter to veto over 50 Security Council Resolutions condemning Israeli aggression, segregation, apartheid, and crimes against humanity. America was absolutely wrong in vetoing the resolution calling for an immediate cease fire in Gaza on 8 December 2023. The United States is an active party to the conflict and should have abstained from voting in accordance with Article 27 Paragraph 3. Thousands of innocent civilians have died because of American unconditional support for Israel. The excessive use of force and indiscriminate killings in Palestine does not make Israel or America safer. Every home destroyed, every child killed, every mother killed simply creates new enemies that will come back to attack us in the future. The only path to peace is through just laws equally applied to all and the hope for justice that the rule of law provides. The human race is facing an existential crises caused by global warming, overpopulation, pollution, dwindling resources, armed conflicts, and wars. If we do not change, we will not survive.
America is at its best when it leads by example, and at its worst when it tries to dominate and dictate. It is time for a new generation of leadership in America at all levels of government and a new foreign policy based on the rule of law. We need to unite the world, not divide it. The United Nations is a flawed institution based on a very flawed charter, but it is the only International Law we have. It is time for United Nations reform and the elimination of the Unanimous Consent Clauses of the UN Charter. Until that happens, we must insist on all United Nation’s members complying with the UN Charter as written. The United States and Great Britain have been a party to the Israeli/Palestinian dispute since the 1920s. They must abstain! The same is true of the Russian Federation in the Russia/Ukraine War. The Russian Federation is a party to the dispute and must abstain!