International Target

Israel braces for difficult term as U.N. General Assembly begins.

RACHEL POMERANCE
Jewish Telegraphic Agency

New York
f recent events are any indication of
what's to come at the U.N. General
Assembly, Israel had better brace
itself.
With the three-month session official-
ly starting Sept. 14, Israel advocates are
preparing for the traditional batch of 20
anti-Israel resolutions — in addition to
several new ones.
Despite the fact that the United
Nations this summer hosted its first ever
large-scale event to address growing
worldwide anti-Semitism, observers say
little has come of it. Instead, pro-Israel
advocates are worried about the
Palestinians' aim to capitalize on the July
opinion of the International Court of
Justice at the Hague, which advised
Israel to dismantle the parts of its securi-
ty barrier that cut into Palestinian terri-
tory and compensate Palestinians
impeded by it.
Israel and American Jewish groups are
lobbying U.N. member countries to
prevent the issue from reaching or gain-
ing passage at the U.N. Security
Council, the only U.N. body with the
power to impose sanctions.
Israel's backers are urging members of
the General Assembly, a body of 191
countries, to resist the usual habit of
trouncing en masse on the Jewish state.
In addition, Jewish groups hope that a
resolution condemning anti-Semitism
that was withdrawn last year due to lack
of support will be reintroduced.
While this year's session opened Sept.
14, the general debate begins Sept. 21,
with world leaders, including U.S. and
Israeli officials, slated to address the
assembly next week.
Amy Goldstein, director of U.N.
affairs for B'nai B'rith International, said
it could turn into either one of the worst
sessions or one of the best. "It could
stand out as one of the worst sessions in
the U.N. for Israel if the Palestinians
decide to try to isolate Israel in the inter-
national community even further by
seeking to continue this charade of a

I

parallel with South Africa, or it could be
a landmark year for the Jewish people
with the passage of a stand-alone resolu-
tion condemning anti-Semitism as
called for by the U.N. secretary-general,
Kofi Annan," at the U.N. conference on
anti-Semitism this summer.
Two events this summer indicate the
Palestinians are hoping for the former,
and could be especially aggressive. At a
meeting of the Palestine committee of
the United Nations, the Palestinian
U.N. representative, Nasser Al-Kidwa,
underscored what he called the centrali-
ty of the Hague opinion. Jewish officials
said Al-Kidwa called it the most impor-
tant U.N. resolution since the 1947
U.N. partition plan.
The Palestinian campaign for the
International Court to rule on the issue
led to lukewarm passage of a General
Assembly resolution requesting it.
Ultimately, however, it led to much
stronger passage, with a vote of 150 to
6, with 10 abstentions.

SettlementVote

This session, the Palestinians are expect-
ed to continue the effort, by calling on
the General Assembly again to demand
compliance and asking the U.N.
Security Council to impose sanctions on
Israel.
Meanwhile, an August meeting in
South Africa of the Non-Aligned
Movement — a group of 115 develop-
ing countries — resulted in a resolution
to boycott products from West Bank
and Gaza settlements and block Jews
who live there from travel in their coun-
tries.
A similar push could be made in the
General Assembly, according to a U.N.
diplomat who asked not to be identi-
fied.
And Palestinians may repeat their
effort to limit Israel's U.N. credentials to
its pre-1967 borders, and give
Palestinians the right to represent the
West Bank, Gaza and eastern Jerusalem.
The United States is hoping to
decrease the number of anti-Israel reso-
lutions at the U.N. General Assembly,
U.S. officials say. The U.S. State

BEHIND THE ISSUE

TEE ISSUE

Divisions in Israeli society over Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon's planned with-
drawal from the Gaza Strip and parts
of the northern West Bank are testing

Department, in fact, lists fair treatment
of Israel at U.N. forums among its five
foreign policy priorities at the United
Nations.
But some Jewish officials say that
growing anti-Americanism around the
world may make that effort more chal-
lenging.
Israel advocates are mainly focused on
preventing a resolution on Israel's securi-
ty barrier from gaining nine affirmative
votes at the 15-member U.N. Security
Council. Such a scenario would require
a veto.from one of the five permanent
members — and if it does, they are
banking on the United States.
The United States has not made a
public statement on what its position
would be should the matter come to the
Security Council, according to U.S. offi-
cials. Another priority of American
Jewish groups is winning passage of a
resolution condemning anti-Semitism in
the wake of this summer's conference.
Ireland, which sponsored last year's
failed version, may be sponsoring the
resolution again this year, said a U.N.
official.
Due to last year's failure, some groups
are discussing a three-pronged approach
— designating three resolutions to con-
demn bigotry against Muslims,
•
Christians and Jews.
"It's obviously not the most desirable
option," due to "pitfalls like two of them
passing and the third failing," said
Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chair-
man of the Conference of Presidents of
Major American Jewish Organizations.
Jewish groups are seeking the same
unambiguous language used in a resolu-
tion passed at an Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe
conference on anti-Semitism in Berlin in
the spring. They are discussing linking
the resolution to a U.N. exhibit on the
60th anniversary of liberating the con-
centration camps, which falls next year,
Hoenlein said.
But many predict that Arab countries,
which thwarted last year's resolution,
will try to water down this one into a
universal resolution blasting bigotry.

Israel's democracy. Fortunately, dem-
ocratic structures may help to resolve
the tensions.

Tens of thousands of Israelis have
used Israel's democratic protections to
peacefully demonstrate for or against
the withdrawal plans. Israel's govern-
ing coalition, may change as ministers
take sides. Israel's internal security

The U.N. General Assembly voted 150-6
with 10 abstentions, in July to tell Israel to
obey the World Court and tear down its
security fence.

Still, Jewish officials say there is room
for optimism. For one, Palestinian lead-
ers recently received substantial criticism
at the U.N. Security Council in a report
from U.N. Middle East envoy Terje
Roed-Larson, who blasted them for fail-
ing to bring about order in the
Palestinian Authority.
At the same time, Israel has won plau-
dits from U.N. Secretary-General Kofi
Annan for its Gaza disengagement plan,
which calls for an Israeli withdrawal
from Gaza and some settlements on the
West Bank.
At the end of the day, much of the
action will hinge on the facts on the
ground, say observers. "If there were
movement on the disengagement plan
in Israel, that could be seen as an effort
toward peace" and might "change the
tenor at the U.N. to being less combat-
ive toward Israel," said Shelley Klein,
director of advocacy for Hadassah.

❑

forces will guard against civil strife. A
majority may choose, the nation's
direction in a proposed democratic
plebiscite.

Allan Gale, Jewish Community
Council of Metropolitan Detroit

9/17
2004

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