<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[Occupied Palestine | فلسطين]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[occupiedpalestine]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/author/hajarhajar/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[ei: UN Security Council continues to stymie pressure on&nbsp;Israel]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<p><span class="text14">Haider Rizvi, <em>The Electronic Intifada,</em> 11 January 2011</p>
<p><span class="content">UNITED NATIONS (IPS) &#8211; Calls are growing  for a swift international response to the situation in the Middle East,  as Israel continues to build new settlements in the occupied West Bank  with increased military actions against civilians.</p>
<p>However, there is no sign that the 15-member Security Council intends to  take any immediate measures to rejuvenate the stalled peace process led  by the UN, the United States, the European Union and Russia.</p>
<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t want to prejudge anything at this moment,&#8221; Ivan Barbalić,  president of the Security Council for this month, told IPS in response  to a question about whether or not the Council would soon be holding a  meeting to discuss the Middle East situation.</p>
<p>Last week, the Palestinian envoy Riyad Mansour sent a letter to US  ambassador Susan Rice, who was then president of the Security Council,  in which he described the current situation in Palestine as &#8220;grave&#8221; and  said it required &#8220;urgent attention and serious action&#8221; by the  international community, including the Security Council.</p>
<p>The letter, which was also sent to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and  the president of the General Assembly, mentioned in detail the Israeli  settlement activities in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. Mansour  said the situation in and around occupied East Jerusalem was &#8220;most  severe.&#8221;</p>
<p>Mansour said this was being done &#8220;for the direct purpose of altering the  demographic composition, character and legal status of its Palestinian  inhabitants through forced evictions, home demolitions, revocation of  residency rights and other measures in flagrant violations of  international and the past Security Council resolutions.&#8221;</p>
<p>The Palestinians have also been circulating a draft resolution that  would declare Israel&#8217;s settlement building in East Jerusalem to be  illegal.</p>
<p>The top Palestinian leadership holds that any attempt to restart the  peace process would be futile unless the world community agrees to bind  Israel through a Security Council resolution to freeze its illegal  settlement activities in the occupied West Bank, including East  Jerusalem.</p>
<p>On Wednesday, as Israeli troops killed two more Palestinians near the  Gaza boundary, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat reiterated his  position that the parties involved in the peace process &#8212; the Quartet  comprising the UN, US, Russia and the European Union &#8212; must take firm  decisions.</p>
<p>For their part, the Israelis are insisting that instead of involving the  international community for a negotiated peace, they would rather hold  direct talks, a condition that is highly unlikely to be accepted by the  Palestinian leadership which is more focused on gaining wider  international support for the legitimacy of their struggle.</p>
<p>The Palestinians enjoy overwhelming diplomatic support in the 192-member  UN General Assembly. The scene in the Security Council chamber is  somewhat different, where over the years, the US has repeatedly blocked  resolutions that were either in support of the Palestinians or against  Israel.</p>
<p>Sources told IPS that two weeks ago the chief Palestinian diplomat had  met Ambassador Rice, but failed to get a clear response for a possible  Security Council resolution to halt Israeli settlements. &#8220;It&#8217;s very  clear that at the moment the US is not ready for any Council resolution  on a settlement freeze,&#8221; said a diplomat who did not want to be named.</p>
<p>However, it may not be so easy for the US to continue its unconditional  support for Israel. Pressure for change in the US policy on Israel  appears to be growing, despite the fact that the so-called Israel lobby  is still far more powerful in the US than any other interest group.</p>
<p>Last month, for example, Human Rights Watch called for Washington to  stop giving aid to Israel in an amount equivalent to the costs of its  spending in support of settlements, and to monitor contributions to  Israel from tax-exempt US organizations that violate international law.</p>
<p>Aware that the US is Israel&#8217;s largest weapons supplier, Amnesty  International has called for an arms embargo on Israel. Considering the  wider support for the Palestinians on the international level, the noted  US intellectual and political analyst Noam Chomsky thinks that a shift  in US policy on Israel may not be impossible.</p>
<p>But &#8220;to break the logjam,&#8221; he writes in a recent article run by The New  York Times Syndicate, &#8220;it will be necessary to dismantle the reigning  illusion that the US is an &#8216;honest broker&#8217; desperately seeking to  reconcile recalcitrant adversaries, and to recognize that serious  negotiations would be between the US-Israel and the rest of the world.&#8221;</p>
<p>In his view, &#8220;If US power centers can be compelled by popular opinion to  abandon decades-old rejectionism, many prospects that seem remote might  become suddenly possible.&#8221;</p>
<p>At the UN, when IPS asked about the secretary-general&#8217;s response to the  letter, spokesman Martin Nesirky said: &#8220;The [secretary general] pays  close attention to what is happening in the Middle East. This particular  topic was taken to the Security Council. Now it&#8217;s up to the Council [to  take action].&#8221;</p>
<p>Nesirky said Ban spoke to Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa and  the European Union&#8217;s foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton Thursday.  Ashton, who met Israeli officials last Wednesday, said she would push  for &#8220;urgent progress&#8221; in the peace process during her visit.</p>
<p>White House envoy Dennis Ross is also in Jerusalem for two days of closed-door talks with Israeli leaders.</p>
<p><em>All rights reserved, IPS &#8212; Inter Press Service (2011). Total or partial publication, retransmission or sale forbidden.</em></span></p>
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