“The Palestinian people still yearn for the freedom and dignity denied them for decades. The Israeli people yearn for long-term security. Neither can achieve their legitimate demands without a settlement of the conflict. Today, we are at a critical juncture in efforts to move beyond crisis management and renew efforts toward genuine conflict resolution.”
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, February 2007
THE UNITED NATIONS AND THE ISRAEL-PALASTINE CONFLICT
Introduction
The United Nations is the basic international institution which the current international system is built on. It came into existence as the basic international institution of the new international order of the World War I, and today it has been the most extensive (193 member states) and the most important international institution since its foundation.
No issue has attracted the interest of the international society over the last second half of the twentieth century or more as much as Israeli Palestinian conflict. From the beginning, the United Nations, the conflict was at the core and yet no resolution was reached. The conflict has been the matter of the United Nations in one form or another since the establishment of the Organization (Shapiro; 1969, p. 8). There has been a myriad of debate, discussion and negotiation (Di Mauro; 2012, p. 159-162, The Question of Palestine and the United Nations; 2008, p. 48). Still, in spite of all these efforts, the issue today, remains unresolved and necessitates attention of the international community and an urgent resolution.
The United Nations has been directly involved within the Israel-Palestinian conflict from the establishment of the organization. However, even in the first years and decades of the conflict, the United Nations was often sidelined in efforts of peacemaking in the region.
In its Charter, which was written and signed in the 1945, the United Nations set high standards and values and adopted principles to fulfill its primary responsibilities: to maintain peace and security (UN Charter) . The desire was to prevent the use of force between states and to stop the reoccurrence of the imperialist intentions in the global scale.
Obviously, the geopolitical context has changed since the 1945 immensely. Furthermore, the performance of the United Nations has been impotent and the Organization is unusually able to transform its main principles into required actions. It is almost a common ground for the international community that the United Nations is weak and sometime totally disqualified. What is worse is that, observers have noted absence of appetite within the UN and its member states to boost its own resolutions (Di Mauro; 2012, p. 135). So the disappointing fact is that, the UN has not recompensed the confidence and high principles established by itself in the aftermath of World War II since none of them was not transferred into actions.
Especially the Security Council is the most criticized organ of the United Nations since it gives some crucial privileges – for example the veto power – to a limited number of states(the victorious states of the World War II: France, United States of America, United Kingdom, China, Russia/the former U.S.S.R ) in it. Even though some reform proposals were brought in the agenda before, too little change was made and the need for a significant transformation in many aspects of the body is still waiting to take place.
These shortcomings of the United Nations showed itself most obviously with respect to conflicts in the Middle East. The United Nations had the central role in the establishment process of the Israeli state and tried to manage the riots and revolts which associated with it, however it had failed to find a plausible way out which can fulfill the rightful wishes of Palestinians, Israelis and the whole region. Thus, Palestinians has long argued rightfully that the United State’s direct influence frustrating efforts intended to solve the problem and Israel had always argued that the UN is an intrinsically biased organization with its anti-Israeli agenda.
Thesis Subject
This study tries to develop ideas on how to further peace and understanding in the Middle East through debate and constructive dialogue in a neutral political environment of the United Nations to be created. The Organization should amend parts of its conduct and bear a critical role in creating a political environment for the resolution of the conflict. And eventually through leading mediation efforts by the United Nations, an indisputable recognition as a viable statehood to the Palestinians, endorsed by the international community, not just as means of politicization but as a definite nation, must be materialize.
Some Research Questions
• Is there hope for the United Nations to play a leading role in the search for peaceful settlement in the Israel- Palestinian Conflict?
• Can the UN become a leading actor in the search for a peaceful settlement?
• Has the UN capability to become a neutral mediator of high credibility and in doing so is it able to cover its main principles as a creator of international peace?
• What efforts have been beard by the Organization and why they have failed?
• How the perception of The United Nations and its role by the Israelis and Palestinians is shaped? What are the systemic constraints and opportunities confronting the United Nations, specifically as an instrument for peace-building in the Middle East?
Thesis Statement
This thesis aims to evaluate The United Nations’ potential and role in conflict resolution especially in the Middle East. The objective is to evaluate if it is possible for the Organization to become a trustworthy and detached conciliator in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, especially by taking into account the failures of past initiatives. Thus, the recent urge for making the Organization more powerful in the areas of conflict prevention, peacemaking, peacekeeping and peace-building, which was also expressed clearly by the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki – Moon is the main road to be taken. What is most promising is that, the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki – Moon has proceeded gingerly on issues of international peace and security and effaced himself in the favor of a more institutionalized organization (Weiss.. et al., 2010, p. 11-12).
My expected conclusions are twofold. Firstly, there is no alternative to the UN. It is obvious that, the Organization had failed too many times but so have all other actors. Only the UN has a relative international legitimacy and is capable to assemble broad-based coalitions. Mostly, the Organization is severely criticized for being a biased and bureaucratically handicapped institution with no use at all by the both parties of the conflict. Therewithal, it consists of multiple voices and still less biased than, say the United States of America or the European Union or any other possible actor. Moreover, taking into account the recent investments of the Organization (The Question of Palestine and the United Nations; 2008, p. 88), it is now better positioned to play a more constructive role if it is capacitated by its member states.
Secondly, it is now time for action. It has been too long that the UN and the parties of the conflict enrolled in endless rhetorical debates and used the UN as a battlefield. People in the region, already suffered enough and any of these debates did not help to solve the problem even for the most optimistic points of view. If the international community is serious about finding a peaceful solution then it needs to take some action towards a viable solution and the UN is better positioned than other actors.
The thesis will be formulated as follows. First there will be an historical background of the Israeli – Palestinian conflict. Then, the mediation efforts will be sequenced by outlining earlier attempts especially at the UN mediation and an analyzing their shortcomings. This will be followed by an analysis of the Palestinian perception of the UN and the Israeli perception of the UN. Then, an exploration of possible alternatives to the United Nations as a leading actor in the region will be made. It will then make a case for the UN detailing the promises of the Organization including a part on what needs to be done concluding that both the UN and the parties of the conflict must enroll in earnest aim for a potential peacefully settlement of the problem.