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ANALYSIS
Palestine Center Brief No. 218 (19 September 2011)All alone on Israel island
By Yousef Munayyer
Solitude and Absurdity. Perhaps no two other words better described the scene at the United Nations earlier this year when US Ambassador Susan Rice raised her hand with a reluctant expression on her face to veto a Security Council resolution condemning Israeli colonial expansion. Fourteen of the fifteen members of the UN's most important body voted for this resolution save the United States.
The absurdity? The resolution was pieced together using language from speeches and statements American principals have made regarding Israel's illegal colonies. Susan Rice was effectively vetoing American policy and then found herself in the peculiar position of explaining why the US was against settlements despite vetoing the resolution.
The United States does not want to see another episode of this saga - let's call it Israel Island - repeated when the Palestinians bring their application for membership to the United Nations this week. No government enjoys isolation, especially not in today's interdependent and interconnected world and certainly not a leading power in world politics.
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This article originally appeared on AlJazeera.net.
Yousef Munayyer is Executive Director of the Palestine Center. This policy brief may be used without permission but with proper attribution.
The views in this brief are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The Jerusalem Fund.The Jerusalem Fund for Education and Community Development is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in Washington, DC that does educational and humanitarian work on behalf of Palestinians, particularly those living in the Occupied Territory and surrounding refugee camps.
The Palestine Center is an independent think-tank committed to communicating reliable and timely information about the Palestinian political experience to American policy-makers, journalists, students and the general public. Established in 1991, it is the educational program of the Jerusalem Fund for Education and Community Development.
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