By Vazy Vlazna
Rt Hon Bill English
Prime Minister of New Zealand
Dear Prime Minister, Kia ora,
On 26 December, I, too hastily, sent a letter to the New Zealand High Commissioner to Australia offering my gratitude to the New Zealand government for co-sponsoring UN Resolution 2234 demanding an end to Israel’s illegal settlement activity on Palestinian land i.e. land confiscated by brutal force.
A Palestinian friend, Jafar Ramini, who is a refugee from Jenin and a highly respected writer, commentator and analyst on the Middle East wrote to me pointing out the prodigious flaw in Res. 2234 that I failed to mention,
I am sorry my friend, though I too applaud the courage of N.Z I can’t in all [conscience] write such a letter. I am opposed to the two state solution or any other solution that doesn’t address all Palestinian grievances and issues. I am for total liberation and return of all displaced Palestinians. I hope you understand!
Admittedly, the US abstention on 2234 did make a historic blip while 2234 reaffirmed (what we all knew)
“That Israel’s establishment of settlements in Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, had no legal validity, constituting a flagrant violation under international law and a major obstacle to the vision of two States living side-by-side in peace and security, within internationally recognized borders.”
However, the UNSC voters for 2234, to borrow from Monty Python, have inanely nailed to the UN perch a ‘dead,’ ‘stone dead,’ ‘bereft of life’ ‘expired,’ ‘ceased to be’ EX-two state solution.
Its executioners, from Sharon to Netanyahu and their 650,000 strong settler militia, have with exquisite karmic irony, sealed the one-state solution; the Unitary state solution that will accommodate all Palestinian refugees rather than the Zionist Oded Yinon Plan.
Even Israel’s ‘unapologetic friend’, John Kerry had pointed out that “more than 50 per cent of the ministers in the current [Israeli] government have publicly stated they are opposed to a Palestinian state and that there will be no Palestinian state.” and he presented a clear cut ultimatum,
“There is a basic choice that has to be made by Israelis, by the leadership of Israel,” he said, “and that is are there going to be continued settlements, is there going to be a continued implementation of settlement policy, or is there going to be separation and the creation of two states?”
You, and the world, are aware that Netanyahu arrogantly responded on cue to 2234 with the announcement of 5,600 new settlement units for construction in East Jerusalem and announced defiantly, as expected, that “Israel rejects this shameful anti-Israel resolution at the UN and will not abide by its terms.”
Such childish tantrums were mimicked by Education Minister Naftali Bennet with this silly hysterical hyperbole;
“I will say to everyone at the Security Council: If you raise your hand or remain silent in the vote against Israel, you’re supporting the forces of terror, you’re supporting airplanes hitting buildings in New York and trucks killing people in Berlin, terror attacks in Brussels, Orlando and Dallas.”
..And by the mad ravings of Morton Klein, the president of the Zionist Organization of America – “Obama has made it clear that he’s a Jew-hating antisemite.”
So be prepared to be clobbered with the truncheon of ‘faux-antisemism’ that critics of Israeli criminality and BDS activists incur daily.
Israel’s maniacal hissy fits – defying 2234 plus the hundreds of other resolutions, approving thousands of new illegal settlement units, recalling its ambassadors, summoning naughty envoys, banning envoys, ceasing aid – reinforce the serial thieving colonial power ( a lawless monster created by Western powers including New Zealand) that is Israel as an obscene rogue state.
I also repeat here my urging, from my previous letter, that your government reviews its Super Fund investments in Israeli businesses that prop up Israel’s illegal and vicious occupation of Palestine. And you could begin by terminating its smug CEO, Adrian Orr who is immune to grasping the concept of ethical investment and the suffering of Palestinian children. See here and here.
Generally, no one outside New Zealand can name a NZ prime minister apart from David Lange. And why? Because in the coven of real-politic pragmatism, he broke the rules- Lange did a rare thing- he took a MORAL stand against the might of France in the 1985 Rainbow Warrior bombing and consequently made NZ nuclear free and proud.
What will be the caliber and legacy of your leadership?
Will you continue John Key’s ungodly comfort with Israeli war criminals and with the horrific war crimes against Palestinian families trapped in Gaza?
Or will you dare do serious independent research and thinking on the matter of Palestine? Will you withdraw from the pact supporting a fake two state solution? Will you challenge Israeli impunity to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity? Will you replace McCully with a foreign minister prepared to put international law above US and Israel interests? Will you, Bill English, dare to morally defend the Palestinian right to life and their political and human rights?
What world will you help shape for the children of New Zealand, of Palestine and of Israel?
Sincerely,
– Dr. Vacy Vlazna is Coordinator of Justice for Palestine Matters and editor of a volume of Palestinian poetry, I remember my name. She was Human Rights Advisor to the GAM team in the second round of the Acheh peace talks, Helsinki, February 2005 then withdrew on principle. Vacy was convenor of Australia East Timor Association and coordinator of the East Timor Justice Lobby as well as serving in East Timor with UNAMET and UNTAET from 1999-2001.
