Editorial comment
The UK’s dubious role in the Palestine UN bid
True to its colours, the UK has attempted to stifle human rights and accountability to international law when it demanded that President Abbas should pledge “not to pursue Israeli war criminals through the International Criminal Court.”
That alone is an admission that within the ranks of Israel’s political leadership exist umpteen war criminals whose actions are liable for punitive action by the International Criminal Court. The UK must not forget that a large part of the current disorder in the region stems from its own actions when it ruled as the colonizing power. Lord Balfour prompted some of the worst that ever happened to the Palestinians. Since then, the UK has supported the racist apartheid state of Israel to the hilt. Now it wants to mask its crimes using political coercion. In public the UK is into make-believe that is forms part of civilized society even though its colonial history and recent war ventures show it in much the same light as how dictators have behaved. There is one difference. The UK’s cruel and vindictiveness have been largely reserved for strikes outside its borders. Needless to say its treatment of its own minorities is murky and quantum leaps in Islamaphoebia are taking hold.
The UK’s voting record in the UN on issues pertaining to Palestine is pathetic. It symbolizes a dismal disregard for human rights, international law, and poor standards of respect for humanitarian practices.
The sun has set on the British Empire decades ago. All that remains of it are threads by which it hangs on to as a rich country. That edifice is crumbling under its own weight. For after all, the UK’s wealth was built around a colonial enterprise that plundered and looted from the countries it once ruled without any moral authority. Anything built on morally erroneous and illegal foundations will decay sooner or later unless it can see the error of its ways and make good its wrongs.
The UK has clearly learned nothing from history. The threat to the Palestinian President is a disgraceful attempt to distort a democratic vote at the United Nations. It will fail and so will the UK.
Stuart Littlewood, a marketing specialist turned writer-photographer in the UK, has written this damning indictment of what the UK tried to extract from the Palestinian leadership. His articles are published widely on the web. He is author of the book Radio Free Palestine, which tells the plight of the Palestinians under occupation.
The article “Did Britain try blackmail to cripple Palestine UN bid? YES!” is a must-read for those who care about justice. (Reproduced below)
In solidarity,
Ranjan Solomon