Kofi Annan: UN Security Council Role re Peace in Jerusalem's War

by Uwe Paschen | March 24, 2010 at 06:13 am

847 views | 38 Recommendations | 16 comments

Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary General and now a mediator in International conflicts through the Kofi Annan Foundation, said in an interview with Aljazeera’s journalist Teymoor Nabili that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the single most charged conflict in the world today.

Israel's actions in Gaza and defiance of the UN Security Counsel and the US government's plea for reason in favour of a peaceful and fair solution for all parties indicates an escalation of its tactics in the region.

Alon Liel, a professor of international relations at Tel Aviv University and the former head of Israel's foreign ministry, said, “The Quartet is united (UN, EU, Russia and the US) on this issue and the Quartet [of Middle East mediators] is the world. Israel is going to be internationally isolated if it persists in refusing to negotiate a fair and responsible peace with the Palestinians as well as allowing the establishment of a Palestinian State along with Israel.”

Jerusalem's Contested Ground

The politics of expropriation and settlement of the predominantly Arab east Jerusalem by the Israeli government, who illegally annexed it after the 1967 Middle East war, has been contested for 4 decades.

Tayseer Khaled, an executive committee member from the PLO, dismissed Netanyahu's comments that the peace negotiations could be put on hold for another year as "threats.”

Some have suggested Jerusalem should become an independent city state, neither Israeli nor Palestinian.

Others think the UN security counsel should be granted greater power to penalize renegade states such as Israel, Zimbabwe, North Korea, or Sudan and to protects its citizens' “right to resist an occupation, a terrorist threat or self defense [and] has to be understood in its true meaning, it cannot include the right to deliberately kill or maim civilians” - the UN definition of terrorism.

Role of the UN Security Council

On September 15, 2009, Judge Richard Goldstone and his Commission presented their 575-page Report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, The Goldstone Report, to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC). Six months later, how closer are the parties to negotiating peace?

At a meeting in Moscow on Friday, the Quartet of Middle East mediators comprising the UN, the US, the EU and Russia, called on Israel to freeze settlement activity inline with a 2003 peace road map, which also obliged the Palestinians to take action to disarm fighters.

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Amy Judd

at 11:57 on March 24th, 2010

Good piece.

Uwe Paschen

at 05:34 on March 25th, 2010

Thank you Amy.

tikun

at 04:57 on March 25th, 2010

Is this an opinion piece? If so I missed the flag. If not it should get one because their is plenty of opinions shared but little substance known as FACTS. Lots of accusations but little proof behind it. Lots of threats and apocalyptic promises but little reality.

There is NO direct proof but only propaganda, political in nature, to make these links that in fact have not and can not be proven. The day this conflict is resolved the blame game will continue.

I also find it interesting that you are so generous with other peoples lives and convictions when you live so far away and have no stake in the outcome.

BTW, the "illustrious" Kofi Annan and his son were accused of nepotism while Annan was head of the U.N. It was then squashed under the already charged atmosphere of bribery, graft, and theft of funds from the UN while he was a boss. Hmm.

Uwe Paschen

at 05:31 on March 25th, 2010

Tikun, I am not sure how you can miss the OPINION flag, for it is big enough, I am fairly confident that you may be the only one that would not see it.

Every thing said in this post can be verified and is based on facts. You are bashing and bad mouthing every thing that is not to your liking, just like your Government bashed the Goldstone report.

I am a realist and yes, I have been in the Middle East several times and worked there and still have two NGO projects running there. Ironically you are the one that fits all to well the accusations you keep on making on every one else that does not march to you sound of your drums tikun.

Shalom.

tikun

at 00:11 on March 26th, 2010

Sorry about the flag. Actually on my firefox it does not appear. No Uwe, nothing is verified by facts. If by facts you mean accusations made by unreliable left wing anti-Israel sources? But FACTS, sorry wrong again.

Uew, You can say all you want, but your prejudices are not able to be veiled by your so-called realism. I am VERY clear about what is going on here. As I said over and over again I do not blindly support my government now in power. But I do not wish to accept all the goody two shoes, folks that think they know better, elitist snobs, that want others to make peace at their expense but not look in their own backyard where all the crap smells from high heaven. HINT

Uwe Paschen

at 03:52 on March 26th, 2010

Tikun, Alon Liel, a professor of international relations at Tel Aviv University and the former head of Israel's foreign ministry, said, “The Quartet is united (UN, EU, Russia and the US) on this issue and the Quartet [of Middle East mediators] is the world. Israel is going to be internationally isolated if it persists in refusing to negotiate a fair and responsible peace with the Palestinian as well as allowing the establishment of a Palestinian State along with Israel.”
This is part of the article, He must be a lefty that is anti Israel. Please stop insulting peoples intelligence.

tikun

at 10:42 on March 26th, 2010

The only person that appears to be insulted is you.

Uwe Paschen

at 15:29 on March 26th, 2010

Well, I actually feel sorry for you Tikun.

Shalom.

Manie (not verified)

at 05:32 on March 25th, 2010

there shall be no such thing as peace. niether side can prove ownership of the land besides claiming God gave us the land. if that is so then both gods from each side must come and settle this dispute once and for all, but then again written script from both sides were written by man and prone to manipulation. for people to think that the men who wrote the bible, tora etc were incapale of lying or manipulation is pure naive. so where does that leave everything? well I believe it leaves human nature with a huge challenge that humans are incapable of due to their blind faith in things they cannot prove.

Uwe Paschen

at 05:40 on March 25th, 2010

Some good points made in this comment. It is best to keep religion, Politics, Ethnicity and business well separated and far apart from each other.

Peace can only be achieved with reason, compromise and good will, not with religious claims nor with threats.

In the end we are only one Human race and one Earth that belongs to no one really in the end.

Manie (not verified)

at 07:54 on March 25th, 2010

good point and I agree completely that religion and politics etc should be kept seperately, but unfortunately that only happens in the ideal utopian world. on the other hand I would disagree with your statement that religion is not the issue. this whole issue currently is hindged on the claim by both sides to a piece of holy land that both sides believe they have right to; and the last time I checked Holy site is usually assosiated with religion of some sort. I've lived in the middle east for a long time and know these issues quite well to be able to say that unless religion and policts are seperated the chances of coming to a solutions is very slim. I would like to make it clear that I do not like bashing any religion, race or ethnicity ,but rather point out facts regarding which religion happens to be in question. in this case; Islam and Judaisim. neither can for a fact prove ownership of the land based on claims that God provided it to them, because that seems to be the argument that is used predominantly by both sides besides other points; and given that both sides politics are deeply intertwined with religion it makes compromise nearly impossible to reach. Human Kind and the Human condition of blindly following ideas by shear faith could be humanities ultimate down fall. hopefully some day the human kind shall awake from its choke hold

Uwe Paschen

at 15:54 on March 25th, 2010

I never said that religion is not the issue. It has been made the issue though, because the whole claim is based on a religious believe.

However, we have to take religion out of it and bring it back to human rights or it may not get settled ever.

Manie (not verified)

at 05:30 on March 26th, 2010

sorry for the miss quote. I totally agree at this point time will determine the outcome of this conflict.

Habib Hassn

at 12:07 on March 27th, 2010

Of course it is a great conflict and a challange for humanity to resolve this conflict.

hidflect

at 21:04 on March 28th, 2010

Sorry to see you had a run in with the Hasbara above, Uwe. Worse than trolls, they are ideologically actived members of a group that attempts to harass, misinform and misrepresent legitimate discussions. Their goal is not to win the argument but simply to wear down their opponents to the point where people have an increased reluctance to bother posting at all. It is a flawed strategy but annoying nonetheless.