The UN and Family Disfunction

Last night I attended a benefit concert for the Israeli charity Elem. Elem is a fantastic organisation which works with troubled, neglected and "at risk" youth throughout Israel, from all communities; many of whom find themselves living on he streets struggling to survive. http://www.elem.org/. As part of the programme, a short film was shown about a young girl called Jessica. Jessica ran away from home at the age of twelve. She survived on the streets of Tel Aviv for five horrendous years. During that time, scared and often desperate, her main focus was on survival, just getting trough each day, fighting to hold on to whatever she had, however little. Jessica is just one of the success stories resulting from the work of Elem. With the support of Elem she was able to get off the street, has finish her studies, and qualify as a graphic artist. After the film, Jessica spoke about her experiences on the streets and about her reasons for running away. Ultimately the abuse she suffered at the hands of her stepfather over an extended period made life at home impossible. Her story was bot touching and inspiring and one had to admire the strength and character of this young woman who with the help of Elem had managed to turn her life around.

Following events in Gaza during the day, for some reason listening to Jessica's story led me to think about Israel's troubled relationship with the UN. Where's the connection you might ask? Bear with me if you will?

It strikes me that the UN's relationship and treatment of Israel over the years can be compared to that of an abusive parents who resents the birth of an unwanted child. As a result of this resentment the child is sure to receive short shrift from the parent who in turn sets out to make life as difficult and impossible for the child in the hope that the child will off and disappear in one way or another. Conversely the UN's relationship with the Palestinians seem to be comparable to that of an overindulgent parent and a favourite child. Spoilt and pampered, this child can do no wrong in the eyes of the parent. The parent dispenses special treatment and works towards advancing the interests of this child, providing for his/her every need often, at the expense of others. When the time comes however for the child to grow up and fend for his/herself, neither the child or the parent is able to let go.

Lets look at some of the facts. In 1968 the UN created the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian. In 1975 the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People was established. The United Nations Division for Palestinian Rights was created in 1977. Also in 1977, there was the inaugural International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People which is celebrated every year on November 29, the anniversary of the vote on the partition of Palestine, resolution 181. In addition the Palestinians are the only people in the world to have their very own UN refugee agency UNRWA. Palestinian refugees proportionately receive more than twice the amount of financial aid from the UN than other refugees in the world. According to official figures, in 2006 This agency provided aid for 4.5million Palestinian refugees to the tune of $174 per head and employed 28,000 people, mostly Palestinians. In the same year, the main UN refugee agency UNHCR provide aid to 17.4 million around the world, including 350,000 Palestinians to the tune of $83 per head and employed 6689 people. The Palestinians are also the only non state to be afforded more than observer status at the UN with many of the rights privileges of full member states.

Conversely, Israel is the only full member state which does not have full rights and privileges within the organisation. With the establishment of the UN Regional Groups in 1961, the Arab refusal to accept Israel into the Asia group meant that Israel was in fact a second class citizen in the UN, unable to participate in a host of important UN activities. Only in 2000 after thirty nine years of exclusion was Israel finally accepted into the Western European & Other Group, where it may now participate in most although not all activities as its activities are restricted to New York and it has no activities in Geneva or other UN centres. Israel continues to be singled out for condemnation by a raft of UN committees and councils. The worst example of this victimisation is perhaps the UN Human Rights Council. Established to replace the discredited UN Commission on Human Rights; in its first year the 100% of resolutions, seven in all; were all critiques of Israel. This led the Secretary General to make an unprecedented statement suggesting the HRC pay attention to other regions of the world.

There appears to be a somewhat unhealthy obsession with the Israel/Arab conflict at the UN. If we take some of the most serious conflicts of the past decade or so and look at the activity of the UN General assembly in their regard, I think you will see what I mean..........

• Second Congo War 1998-2003, with over 4 million dead warranted 56 resolutions
• Sudanese Civil War (including Darfur) 1985-present with 1.3 million dead warranted 14 resolutions
• The Iraq War 2003 - present with over 650,000 dead warranted 15 resolutions
• Russia's war in Chechnya 1999- present with over 62,000 dead warranted 0 resolutions
• War in Afghanistan 2001-present with over 13,000 dead warranted 22 resolutions
• Israel, Palestinians and Lebanon (second Intifada and Second Lebanon War with nearly 7,000 dead warranted 249 resolutions

For me, the figure speak for themselves. This obsession is not a healthy thing, not for Israel, not for the Palestinians and certainly not for the UN as it strives to retain its credibility as a world body

Please excuse the statistics and overload of information. Believe me there is a great deal more where that came from, but i reckon you get the point. I have not mentioned the infamous World Conference on Racism in Durban in 2001. A Durban 2 is scheduled to take place in Geneva in April 2009. The indications are that the second conference will continue the anti Israel and anti Semitic track of the first conference and as such is currently under threat of boycott by Israel, the US, Canada, with a large number of countries considering their position

I haven't talked about the UN activities in the territories themselves. There is a host of evidence to suggest UN complicity in terror operations against Israel. In Gaza in 2002 a senior UN representative Nahd Attala admitted transporting Fatah fighters and arms in his car on their way to operations against Israel. In 2004 UN ambulances were used to transport Hamas fighters from an engagement with Israeli soldiers. In the same year Peter Jensen, the Head of UNRWA, admitted to having Hamas members on his payroll and saw no problem with the fact. Hamas is recognised as a terrorist organisation by the world community. I have a friend who was working with UNRWA in 2004. At the time he complained that UN ambulances and other vehicles were being used by militants. he was told by his superiors to keep quiet after which he resigned. And so on and so forth.........

All of the above point to the dysfunctional nature of the UN and its dealing with both Israel and the Palestinians. If you are not part of the solution then you are part of the problem. If the UN does not make radical changes in both its attitude and its activities regarding Israel and the Palestinians, then, sadly it will continue to be part of the problem.

As we move into the seventh decade of this conflict, perhaps Israel and the Palestinians would do well to take note of Jessica and her friends, the street kids who have managed to survive and grow, despite terrible hardship and the worst possible circumstances. These kids understand that life is not fair, that there are many out there who want you to fail, that there are always seemingly impossible obstacles to overcome. However in order to move forward to a better future, there comes a time when even the most abused children need to stop blaming others and ultimately take responsibility for themselves and their actions. Its called growing up.