The governments of Palau,
Marshall Islands and
Micronesia say this is OK

Three of the globe’s foreign policy heavyweights have voted against a UN General Assembly Resolution condemning Israel’s security barrier through the Occupied Territories on the West Bank.

Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Palau, representing over 0.003% of the world’s population and some 0.00025% of the global economy, defied world opinion by supporting Israel’s construction of the 656km barrier.

Last week, the UN General Assembly met to consider a resolution sponsored by Jordan that sought to back up the International Court of Justice ruling that concluded Israel’s actions were illegal under international law. The Court’s ruling implied that the construction of the barrier in the Occupied Territories caused undue harm to Palestinians and was a de facto annexation of occupied land, in contravention of the Geneva Convention.

he vote was overwhelmingly in favour of a revised resolution that condemned Israel’s actions but also called on the Palestinian Authority to take action to arrest militants. The vote was 150 in favour, 6 against, with 10 abstentions.

Despite EU nations much of the rest of the world deeming the barrier illegal and an obstacle to peace, Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Palau voted with three other minor nations (USA, Israel and Australia) in choosing to support Israel.

“We welcome the support of the three Pacific island nations,” said the Israeli Ambassador to the UN. “Political support amongst foreign policy big hitters such as Palau is important in retaining the credibility of Israeli policy in the international community.”

“The votes of Palau, Micronesia and the Marshall Islands show that there is strong support for Israel’s actions. Although 150 nations voted against us, they are all wrong,” said the Ambassador.

“While America has responsibility for the foreign affairs of these states and financially supports them to the tune of $200m per year, they are still independent, sovereign nations whose votes and opinions count on the world stage,” he said.

The USA supported its traditional ally in the region, despite publicly disagreeing with the route of the fence. “We believe that Israeli settlements in Israel and the West Bank should be protected,” said the US Ambassador.

“This is not about making facts on the ground or stealing land. Israel is not seeking to control the movements of people, or drive the local economy further into the ground through collective punishment,” he said.

“And besides, we cannot start voting against Israel in the United Nations. We cannot also risk our strategic alignment and the economic benefits that flow from our alliance with Micronesia and the Marshall Islands.” he concluded.

“We just did what the Americans did,” said the Australian Ambassador.

The barrier, which in heavily populated areas, is an 8-metre high concrete wall, forces Palestinians to travel for many miles just to access local services. In many places, farmland has been arbitrarily confiscated, depriving many of their only form of subsistence. It also folds in to encompass many illegal Israeli settlements on the West Bank.

The Palestinian Authority says it has documents which show plans to completely encircle the West Bank, annexing over 40% of the area beyond the Armistice line. The Israeli government denies this.

Critics accuse Israel of a blatant land grab and of creating ‘facts on the ground’. However an Israeli Government spokesperson maintained that Israel will ‘always act within the law’. Whose law, was not made clear, as Israel continue to be in contravention of more UN Security Council Resolutions (even with the USA retaining a veto) than was Iraq’s Saddam Hussein.

Asked whether the wall was a marking out a de facto future border between two states, the spokesperson replied:

“The barrier has so far only cost $2 million per kilometre. By the time it is finished it will have cost us just over $1.3 billion. That is not a great deal of money. We can take it down as easily as we can put it up.”

“Now that there are settlements on the West Bank, we must protect them. We couldn’t build the fence on our side because there would not have been enough room for the tanks and watchtowers. Look, how much more room do 3 million Arabs need ?” he added.