Even though it is the most popular subject of resolutions in
the United Nations General Assembly, Israel has never tried
submitting a resolution of its own. Now it has.
According to the Associated Press, the Israeli resolution
calls for the protection of Israeli children victimized by
Palestinian terrorism. A similar draft resolution was
submitted by Egypt last week highlighting the plight of
Palestinian children affected by more than three years of
bloody conflict in the region.
In submitting its resolution, Israel has adopted a change in
strategy.
The UN General Assembly, where each country in the world has
one vote, has been unremittingly hostile to Israel. The Arab
states form a large bloc of votes, and most other countries
either vote with them or abstain on votes. African and Asian
countries usually vote the Arab position without question.
Only the United States and some very small countries
(Micronesia) have consistently voted to protect Israel's
interests. For European states, either vote for the Arab
resolutions of abstain. Thus, anti-Israel resolutions sail
through the General Assembly with lopsided votes. The only
consolation has been the General Assembly resolutions are not
binding.
Only Security Council resolutions are binding, and there the
United States has used its veto -- or the threat of its veto
-- to block resolutions it considers unbalanced.
Israel has thus generally ignored General Assembly
resolutions. Israel's relationship with the General Assembly
reached a low in 1975, when the General Assembly voted
absurdly to equate Zionism with racism. Even though this was
repealed in the 1990s, the scars remain.
Twenty anti-Israel resolutions passed in the General Assembly
in 2002. When some of these were brought to the Security
Council, the United States vetoed them arguing that they made
no reference to the Palestinian terror that elicited Israel's
actions and were unbalanced.
Now Israeli diplomats have decided to try a more active
approach. By introducing a separate but parallel resolution
to the Egyptian draft, they hope to win more support for
balance. Seeing the two resolutions as a diplomatic unit,
Israeli diplomats said they would be happy if the General
Assembly decided to drop the two drafts or to adopt them
both. It will certainly make the situation much more
complicated for many countries.
Israel called its proposal a test as to whether the
organization is capable of taking a balanced approach to the
Mideast.
"The test will be if they pass the Palestinian one but not
ours," said deputy Israeli Ambassador Arye Meckel in an
interview with The Associated Press. Meckel will send a
letter to ambassadors at the United Nations asking for their
support for Israel's first resolution.
Both the Israeli and the Egyptian resolutions are expected to
come up for a vote in the UN's human rights committee within
the next two weeks. If either one passes, it will go to the
full General Assembly for a final vote in December.
