Still symbolic

The UN Security Council has passed a historical resolution against Israeli settlements in Palestine. The resolution was put for a vote    last Tuesday   by four members of the UNSC – minus Egypt, which was forced to withdraw under pressure from Israel. Fourteen of the 15 states of the Security Council voted in favour of the resolution which declared all Israeli settlements in Palestine to be illegal, including those in East Jerusalem. It also demanded an end to new settlement activities to save the two-state solution to the occupation of Palestine. What was interesting about the resolution is that it was the first time that the US refused to use its veto against the resolution – and chose to abstain from the vote instead. In what may have been US President Barack Obama’s last and final major international policy move, the US finally abandoned its policy of staunchly supporting Israel through thick and thin. Immediately, there was outrage from both Israel and the US President-elect Donald Trump. Israel has called it a decision to ‘abandon’ the country but Palestine has hailed it as a landmark resolution.

Whether the UN resolution will mean any real change in the global approach towards Israel is still up in the air. The next US administration has signaled that it will be a staunch Israel ally. Trump’s new ambassador to Israel is a supporter of Israeli settlements in Palestinian areas. In a sense, as good as the resolution might be in symbolic terms, it is another clear indicator of the hollow humanist pretentions of the Obama administration. What sense does it make for Obama to choose to abandon its Israel policy at its twilight? It would have been much better had such a step been taken at the very start of the Obama administration. The US had previously resisted condemnations of Israel – even during the brutal war of 2011. It is a decision that has come too late but it does strengthen the hand that Palestine has to play in the future. Obama had publicly stated his commitment to a two-state solution to the Palestinian question but barely flexed his muscles when he truly had some power. There is little chance that Israel will respect the UN resolution without constant pressure from the US to correct its way and seriously talk about a way to end the oppression of Palestine.        The     reality is that Palestine remains far from attaining freedom. The UN resolution is an important symbolic step but it will need more than one UN resolution to get Palestine full statehood.