Daily Times

Israeli aggression has reached such an unprecedented height of late that the backlash from the international community was expected; what is surprising is that it was this long in coming. On Wednesday, the European parliament overwhelmingly voted that a Palestinian state be recognised. This move has come after a particularly barbaric year with Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip and West Bank bombarding the besieged Palestinian people, resulting in more than 2,180 fatalities, mostly women and children. Blood flowed through the streets of Gaza in 2014 and this time the world watched in shock and horror, reacting to it in a manner that has not happened in the past. In October this year, Sweden was the first member of the EU in western Europe to recognise the state of Palestine, paving the way for others to take the same stand and offer resistance to Israel’s impunity and dastardly actions. Signatories of the Geneva conventions have warned Israel to respect international humanitarian law. In addition, the general court of the EU, its second highest court, has ordered the removal of Hamas’ name from the terrorist blacklist on the grounds that the original listing of the Islamist group was flawed and inconclusive. Israel is not happy and boycotted the meeting of the signatories of the Geneva conventions. This is a response by the international community that is only a first step and must prove to be more befitting of the senseless loss of thousands of Palestinian lives.

That Palestinian statehood be recognised in more than just ‘principle’, which is the furthest that the EU has gone so far, is a truth the world community cannot turn away from after the atrocities the Netanyahu government perpetrated on the Palestinians this year. However, when this ‘principle’ goes to the UN, it must be respected by the major backer of Israel: the US. The sole superpower is expected to veto any such resolution on Palestinian statehood and therein lies the crux. As long as Israel has the backing of the US, as long as support and money is provided to the Zionists to arm themselves with sophisticated weaponry, as long as Washington continues to deny the existence of Palestinian rights, Israel will have the wanton gall to kill as many Palestinians and annex as much territory as it pleases. This is what the recognition of Palestinian statehood entails: the abolition of all such denials of human rights and being accountable to international humanitarian law. It is high time the US looks to establish peace in this long running sore. *