Source: Haaretz
Israel may be accepted behind the scenes, in back-channel dealings, but when the lights go on, legitimacy belongs to the Palestinians.
The UNESCO executive board’s resolution on the Old City of Jerusalem was a searing diplomatic defeat for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s foreign policy. In recent months, Netanyahu has told journalists and cabinet ministers that Israel’s international standing has changed; that “the world” is tired of the Palestinian problem; that Israel’s military and economic power are attracting conservative Arab states that share its fear of Iran and radical Islam; that Israel has an alternative to American support in the form of other world powers like Russia, China and India. Soon, Netanyahu promised, even the “automatic” pro-Palestinian majority at the United Nations would crumble. In less euphemistic language, Netanyahu claimed that Israel had received the world’s permission to continue the occupation and the settlements, and the Palestinians could go to hell.
But now along comes UNESCO’s approval of a resolution that described the Temple Mount and its environs in accordance with the Muslim narrative and reminded Israel that even the Western Wall is occupied territory according to international law. Humiliatingly, the Western Wall Plaza was called Al-Buraq, with the Hebrew name in parentheses.
This resolution was supported by Netanyahu’s new friends from Egypt, Russia and China, as well as Chad, which has grown closer to Israel, and Vietnam, which buys a lot of Israeli weaponry. Greece, with which Netanyahu is proud of nurturing an alliance, abstained, as did India. And who voted against? Our old friends: the United States, led by Barack Obama, along with Britain and Germany.
It turns out the world hasn’t changed. Israel may be accepted behind the scenes, in back-channel dealings, but when the lights go on, legitimacy belongs to the Palestinians. And Israel’s old friends are the only ones that still give it backing, even though Netanyahu has rejected their efforts to bring about a diplomatic solution.
Read more: http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/1.747657
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