------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the July 29, 2004 issue of Workers World newspaper -------------------------
EDITORIAL: THE UN AND THE ISRAELI WALL
There's attitude. Then there is action. The two aren't always connected. That's one lesson from the United Nations General Assembly's 150-6 vote to demand Israel remove its wall from the West Bank. The UN vote seconds an earlier World Court decision calling the wall "in breach of international law" and a "de facto annexation." The 20-foot-high concrete and steel blocks, barbed wire and trenches separate Pales tinians from their jobs, their families, their hospitals and even their ancestors' graves.
But the General Assembly vote expresses only an attitude--a non-binding mandate. And it also shows again how the very structure of the United Nations guarantees U.S. imperialism's ability to dictate its terms to the world. Because for the UN to take action, a Security Council decision is needed--and there the U.S. veto has always prevented any sanctions against the Israeli state. Despite the almost universal hatred of this "Apart heid Wall," the U.S. representative was one of the six to vote against the resolution condemning it, along with Israel, Australia, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Palau. Japan and all the West European imperialist powers voted for it.
Once more the Bush administration has demonstrated its utter hostility to the struggle for Palestinian self-determination and its contempt for the Arab people who--with good reason--denounce the Israeli state as a criminal intruder on a never-ending land grab. The U.S. ruling class is in agreement on this policy, as John Kerry's support for the Israeli wall demonstrates.
The Free Palestine Alliance, a member organization of the ANSWER
steering committee, has announced a series of three sets of two-day
actions to protest the wall. The group plans to set up tents in public
spaces and hold hunger strikes on July 24-25, on the eve of the Demo cra
tic National Convention; on Aug. 28-29, leading up to the Republican National
Convention; and on Jan. 19-20, 2005, leading up to the presidential
inauguration.
To turn attitude to action, join these protests.
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