By Ramona Wadi

While Israel continues with its premeditated and systematic oppressive policies, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights issued a statement which, as is typical of the organisation, is devoid of both coherence and context. Despite the cited difference in statistics of Israelis and Palestinians killed since the beginning of October, the statement seeks to disguise the organisation’s feigned ignorance with rhetorical ambiguities.

While the refusal to recognise the Palestinian uprising is the primary and recurring error in every official UN statement, the latest omission has depicted a historical turning point as a merely untenable situation which, although precarious, is no longer of concern to the international community. Deploring the “excessive use of force by Israeli forces” is swiftly diluted within the context of the entire statement through the mangling of Palestinian resistance and Israeli incitement.

As regards Palestinians, the statement includes the following: “The unacceptable wave of stabbings, shootings and car rammings continue to kill and injure Israelis.” However, Israeli state violence is described as “the response from Israeli security forces has resulted in alleged attackers, protesters and even bystanders being killed and injured.” The distorted differentiation, which legitimises unwarranted state incitement, violence and extrajudicial killings while condemning legitimate armed resistance against colonial oppression is then mellowed by suggesting “prompt, independent and impartial investigations” of atrocities committed by “law enforcement officers”.

Meanwhile in Israel, Defence Minister Moshe Ya’alon issued similar parallel statements which are absorbed as facts unworthy of further analysis. Speaking about the Duma arson terror attack, Ya’alon justified delays in judicial investigations by stating that while Israel is determined to hold perpetrators accountable, there is a lack of evidence to present a case in court. Earlier this year, Ya’alon had also stated that the perpetrators’ identities were known and would not be revealed for security reasons.

The Times of Israel has once again cited the introduction of administrative detention for Israeli settler terror suspects – an issue that provided a short-lived appraisal and renewal of Israel’s detention policy applied exclusively to Palestinians as a form of colonial subjugation. However, the swift release of terror suspects shortly after the announcement revealed the political masquerade conjured for the appeasement of the international community.

Indeed, Ya’alon’s recent comments should provide the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights with enough substance upon which to issue a more dignified and truthful statement. While the Duma arson attack is far from a suitable premise upon which to sustain an argument against colonial terror, it can provide a departure point upon which to condemn the ambiguous legal loopholes that Israel has deliberately constructed in order to tie in with the internationally-disseminated security concern discourse.

Furthermore, Ya’alon, who is not a novice at incitement, has embarked upon several endeavours following the Duma attack in which he urged both violence and vigilance. As has been repeatedly proven, both terms have been rendered synonymous in Israel’s linguistic repertoire. For the UN to keep insisting upon selective differentiation only plays into Israel’s ambitions, as well as propels Palestinians into further obscurity, restricted to pursuing their right to resistance under international law while facing international condemnation for resorting to legal means.

– This article was first published in Middle East Monitor.