Ban Ki-moon's false claim of impartiality on Palestine-Israel

The reports discussing UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's visit to Israel, Ramallah and Gaza read like separate narratives at first glance. Each speech was carefully tailored for a specific audience in a flawless representation of the fragmentation of Palestine through internationally-supported colonisation. Hence the adulation for Israel when visiting the usurped territory and feigning concern while in Gaza and Ramallah.

However, each discourse is also carefully interwoven in a manner which leaves no doubt regarding UN support for Israel. It is, after all, a colonial endeavour that carries the approval of the international organisation since the concocted Partition Plan of 1947.

Hence the complete agreement with Israel regarding alleged “bias” against Israel at the UN, the upholding of security rhetoric and insistence upon direct talks ostensibly to trigger the obsolete two-state paradigm.

While in Gaza and Ramallah, Ban lamented the consequences of the illegal blockade and stated that “the situation cannot continue”. The differentiation made by Ban is obvious – Israel was allowed a political platform while Palestinians were discussed through a detached, humanitarian perspective that left no space for political discussion.

Courting Israel’s colonial narrative

A remark by Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu about Ban’s insistence that “Israel must be treated equally at the UN” set the stage for a thoroughly dissociated discourse which divested Israel of its colonial character.

Any bias at the UN is clearly pro-Israel. Recent events have shown the capitulation towards the entity being allowed to chair the UN 6^th Committee following intensive lobbying by the Western European and Others Group (WEOG).

If any real “bias” translating to incisive criticism and political will to penalise Israel really existed at the UN, it would be fulfilling a duty which it has absconded from.

Ban, however, acquiesced to Israel’s rhetoric, stating that “sometimes your country is held to a different standard at the UN, the fear that your country and people are under constant threat.”

Ban, however, acquiesced to Israel’s rhetoric, stating that 'sometimes your country is held to a different standard at the UN, the fear that your country and people are under constant threat'

Perhaps the UN Secretary General might do well to explain how a perpetually expanding colonial entity in Palestine, benefiting from international impunity and the collaboration of an entire settler population, can give rise to any alleged fears.

Recent years have actually flaunted a different reality in which the international community has completely allowed Israel to promote its security hyperbole to the extent of political distortion. Israel has deemed every action opposed to Israel as a security threat and the UN hastened to endorse the ludicrous premise.

Appeasing Palestinians with remnants

Ban was not the only official displacing emphasis, having been accompanied by UNRWA Commissioner General Pierre Krahenbuhl who lauded the visit as occurring “at a time of deep despair in Gaza” and cited “ a bleak political horizon, no freedom of movement and extreme joblessness” as ramifications.

The appalling discourse is another reminder of how the UN is exploiting Palestinians, imposing expectations of gratitude while leaving the population to its own devices as to how they can successfully resist and survive the extreme conditions imposed upon them by Israel.

Calling the blockade a form of collective punishment that cannot continue is nothing but a patronising attitude that harms Palestinians and glorifies Israel. The UN is wasting precious time and lives stating the obvious; rendering Palestinians spectators while the world hastens to broadcast the useless images of officials wading through a carefully chartered itinerary.

Calling the blockade a form of collective punishment that cannot continue is nothing but a patronising attitude that harms Palestinians and glorifies Israel

The spectacle has proved the UN is not out of touch with reality. It is conscious of Israel’s slow extermination of Palestinians and refuses to acknowledge such actions. Furthermore, the UN has also refused any modification or addition to the established parameters enshrined within international law in order to provide accuracy when dealing with Israel’s violations as a colonial entity.

Instead, it wastes time on perfunctory visits that reap benefits only for Israel, for it is false to claim that such visits are futile. They serve a purpose, and the purpose is to extend the leniency granted to Israel in such a way that both the UN and colonialism benefit.

What we have witnessed was a strategic separation of narratives designated in a way that would suggest the UN is veering towards a criticism of Israel. A juxtaposition of both narratives reveals the opposite. Ban has ensured that the remainder of his tenure will be identical to the massacres reaped in previous years, confirming international acceptance of Israel as an entity above the law.

It would have been less hypocritical if Ban had the humility to avoid stepping into the remnants of Palestinian territory and pontificating about human rights; after all, the UN has proved Palestinians are considered as fodder for violations, rather than a people with incredible dignity.



Ramona Wadi is an independent researcher, freelance journalist, book reviewer and blogger specialising in the struggle for memory in Chile and Palestine, colonial violence and the manipulation of international law. Follow her on Twitter: @walzerscent

Opinions expressed in this article remain those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The New Arab, its editorial board or staff.