1)Introduction
2)The United Nations
3)Middle East
4)United Nations and Middle East
Historical Process and Events
Current Situation
United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the 2008 Gaza War
Can the United Nations Fix the Middle East?
Introduction
The international organizations as well as states, governments or other state entities are the main players of the international community and makers of the international politics, and international peace.
In my opinion we have to give importance to the United Nation Organization. It’s role in the globalized world should grow more and more. The United Nation Organization is an association of states, governmental institutions and national entities based on the same/common agreements, consensus, plans, projects. All of them have the same interests, priorities, they cooperate in the field of economy, finance, bussines, culture, social affairs. Such organizations associating states of the same or similar cultures can also achieve more significant succes in the common cooperation.
Ø What is the role of the UN in the Middle East? Are their work and activities effective and contributing for the region?
I shall focus on the issue of the UN peacemaking activities in my paper. What is the role of the UN Organization in the
- THE UNITED NATIONS-
The United Nations is an international organization founded in 1945 after the Second World War by 51 countries committed to maintaining international peace and security, developing friendly relations among nations and promoting social progress, better living standards and human rights.
The main mission of this world organization is to maintain world peace and security. The UN has been asked many times to prevent armed conflicts since the beginning of its existence; this organisation tried to persuade hostile parties to solve their problems in a peaceful way, it was an arbitrator in conflicts many times, and Security Council (SC) Resolutions contributed to bring these military conflicts to an end on innumerable occasions . The UN seeks to improve its cooperation with regional and local organizations; its peacemaking operations are adjusted as quickly as possible to new situations and needs; it makes efforts to establish stability and security in the damaged country after the end of a conflict.
The United Nations system is based on five principal organs (formerly six – the Trusteeship Council suspended operations in 1994); the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the Secretariat, and the International Court of Justice. Other bodies with a peacemaking role are the General Assembly and the Secretary-General. The main tasks of the UN are prevention of conflicts, restoration of peace, and maintaining, enforcing and building peace in the world.
The organization works on fundemantal issues of the global problems, events and situations, from peacekeeping, peacebuilding, conflict prevention and humanitarian assistance, child survival and development, environmental protection, human rights, environment and refugees protection,agricultural development and fisheries, education, the advancement of women, emergency and disaster relief, air and sea travel, counter terrorism, disarmament and non-proliferation, promoting democracy, peaceful uses of atomic energy, labour and workers’ rights, the list goes on.There are many other ways the United Nations and its system affect our lives and make the world a better place.
When I look at these important issues, I can say that counter terrorism, human rights, governance, wars, conflicts are more significant, because they can affect the world, societies and humans negatively, widely, speedly with globalization. In this perspective, the importance of Security Council emerges on achievement of peacebuilding all around of the world. The Security Council plays an important role in enforcing world peace and security. It is the only body of the UN organization with the power of approval that agreed many complex peacemaking operations for solving (not only) intrastate conflicts.
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the principal organs of the United Nations and is charged with the maintenance of international peace and security. Its powers, outlined in the United Nations Charter, include the establishment of peacekeeping operations, the establishment of international sanctions, and the authorization of military action. Its powers are exercised through United Nations Security Council Resolutions.
The Security Council held its first session on 17 January 1946 at Church House, London. Since its first meeting, the Council, which exists in continuous session, has traveled widely, holding meetings in many cities, such as Paris and Addis Ababa, as well as at its current permanent home in the United Nations building in New York City.
There are 15 members of the Security Council, consisting of 5 veto-wielding permanent members (China, France, Russia, United Kingdom, and United States) and 10 elected non-permanent members with two-year terms. Security Council members must always be present at UN headquarters in New York so that the Security Council can meet at any time. This requirement of the United Nations Charter was adopted to address a weakness of the League of Nations since that organization was often unable to respond quickly to a crisis.
United Nations especially works on peacekeeping operations. Peacekeeping, as defined by the United Nations, is a way to help countries torn by conflict create conditions for sustainable peace. UN peacekeepers—soldiers and military officers, civilian police officers and civilian personnel from many countries. The Charter of the United Nations gives the Security Council the power and responsibility to take collective action to maintain international peace and security. For this reason, the international community usually looks to the Security Council to authorize peacekeeping operations. Most of these operations are established and implemented by the United Nations itself with troops serving under UN operational command.
The middle east is one of the most important critical part of the world for the international peace and United Nations has been working to provide collective action to maintain international peace and security in this region. For this reason, the international community usually looks to the Security Council to authorize peacekeeping operations in the Middle East. Therefore, we should turn our attention to middle east and we must search this critical part.
The United Nations operating in the Middle East can be devided by the several points of view:
- the organizations focused on the humanitarian aid
- the organizations ensuring peace and stability in the world
- the organizations working and interested in politics
- the organizations working and interested in economy
- the organizations working and interested in culture and social affairs.
MIDDLE EAST
The Middle East is a region that encompasses southwestern Asia and Egypt. In some contexts, the term has recently been expanded in usage to sometimes include Afghanistan and Pakistan, the Caucacus and Central Asia, and North Africa. It's often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East. The corresponding adjective is Middle-Eastern and the derived noun is Middle-Easterner.
The history of the Middle East dates back to ancient times, and throughout its history, the Middle East has been a major centre of world affairs. When discussing ancient history, however, the term Near East is more commonly used. The Middle East is also the historical origin of three of the world’s major religions - Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The Middle East generally has an arid and hot climate, with several major rivers providing for irrigation to support agriculture in limited areas. Many countries located around the Persian Gulf have large quantities of crude oil. During the Cold War, the Middle East was a theater of ideological struggle between the two superpowers: the United States and the Soviet Union, as they competed to influence regional allies. Of course, besides the political reasons there was also the "ideological conflict" between the two systems. Moreover, as Louise Fawcett argues, among many important areas of contention, or perhaps more accurately of anxiety, were, first, the desires of the superpowers to gain strategic advantage in the region, second, the fact that the region contained some two thirds of the world's oil reserves in a context where oil was becoming increasingly vital to the economy of the Western world . Within this contextual framework, the United States sought to divert the Arab world from Soviet influence. Throughout its history the Middle East has been a major center of world affairs; a strategically, economically, politically, culturally, and religiously sensitive area.
The modern Middle East began after World War I, when the Ottoman Empire, which was allied with the defeated Central Powers, was partitioned into a number of separate nations. Other defining events in this transformation included the establishment of Israel in 1948 and the departure of European powers, notably Britain and France. They were supplanted in some part by the rising influence of the United States.
In the 20th century, the region's significant stocks of crude oil gave it new strategic and economic importance. Mass production of oil began around 1945, with Saudi Arabia, Iran, Kuwait, Iraq, and the United Arab Emirates having large quantities of oil. Estimated oil reserves, especially in Saudi Arabia and Iran, are some of the highest in the world, and the international oil cartel OPEC is dominated by Middle Eastern countries.
Throughout the 20th and into the 21st century, the region has experienced both periods of relative peace and tolerance and periods of conflict and war. Current issues include the US Occupation of Iraq and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Various ethnic and religious types in the Middle East, 19th century. The Middle East is home to numerous ethnic groups, including Arabs, Turks, Persians, Jews, Kurds,Assyrian/Chaldean/Syriacs , Armenians , Azeris, Circassians, Greeks and Georgians.
The Middle East is very diverse when it comes to religions, most of which originated there. Islam in its many forms is by far the largest religion in the Middle East, but other faiths, such as Judaism and Christianity, are also important. There are also important minority religions like Bahá'í, Yazdânism, Zoroastrianism.
There are the three top languages, in terms of numbers of speakers, are Arabic, Persian and Turkish, representing Afro-Asiatic, Indo-European, and Turkic language families respectively. Various other languages are also spoken in the Middle East, and they too span many different language families. Other languages spoken in the region include Syriac (a form of Aramaic), Armenian, Azerbaijani, Berber, Circassian, smaller Iranian languages, Hebrew, Kurdish, smaller Turkic languages, Greek, and several Modern South Arabian languages. English is commonly spoken as a second language, especially among the middle and upper classes, in countries such as Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Iran, Iraq, Qatar, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates and Kuwait. It is also a main language in some of the Emirates of the United Arab Emirates.
Why is the
n It is one of the most important oil producing regions in the world.
n It controls a strategic waterway, the Suez Canal which links Europe to
n It has several significant conflicts, especially between
n It has important materials that states need to get possession.
THE UNITED NATIONS & MIDDLE EAST
Since its founding at the end of World War II, the United Nations has played a major role in defining--if not solving--the conflicts which grew out of the retreat of colonialism from the Middle East. From the Western Sahara to Lebanon to Iran, UN resolutions, usually from the Security Council, have often been the closest thing to an international consensus on the region's many disputes. Some of these resolutions have come and gone, proving unenforceable, untimely, or just plain unwise. But the following few dozen remain highly relevant today.
Peace in the Middle East and the role of the United Nations in establishing and maintaining a lasting Peace in that region. The basic premise of this series of posts is that Justice and Respect of International Law are essential predicates and foundation for Peace in the Middle East, and indeed anywhere else as well on our Earth. The secession of hostilities, if not based on Justice and International Law, is not Peace, it is just the state of preparing for the next round of war and destruction. In this post we will examine the historical background of the Middle East Peace as it relates to the Palestinian-Israeli issue, we will review the UN resolutions that established Israel, the partitioning of Palestine and the British role in that time period from 1946 to 1949. Then we will briefly review the succession of the UN resolutions.
The United Nations has been involved in various problems in the Middle East since 1947 . Whereas the Korean War and the Congo issue were settled in the sense that there was no further outbreak of hostilities, the United Nations has not managed to do the same in the Middle East . Wars have broken out in 1948, 1956, 1967 and 1973 and several problems exist to this day.
Firstly, after World War One, Britain had governed Palestine as a League of Nations mandate. Britain got more and more embroiled in the area and in 1947 asked the United Nations to take over the duty of running the area. The Palestinians and the Jews in the area may have detested and fought one another but both fought the British troops who were stationed there. By 1947, Britain had had enough.
The United Nations took over the area and set up an eleven-man commission to examine the problem. Their solution was to divide Palestine in half with one part for the Jews and the other for the Palestinians. The Arab nations that surrounded Palestine made it clear that this plan would not be acceptable. Regardless of this – and aware of world sympathy for the Jews in the aftermath of World War Two - the United Nations went ahead with its plan. The General Assembly approved the partition in November 1947.
However, the United Nations plan came to nothing. The British left Palestine in May 1948 and the Jews set up Israel almost immediately using territory given to them in the United Nations plan. The Arab nations that surrounded Israel immediately attacked with the intention of destroying the new state.
The United Nations, now with a war to deal with, arranged for a four-week truce. However, the end of the truce saw the start of hostilities again. A major problem for the United Nations was the murder of their chief negotiator in the area – Count Bernadotte. His successor was Ralph Bunche and he managed to arrange for another cease-fire in 1949 . This was signed by Israel and all but one of the Arab nations that had attacked Israel in 1948 . However, for many it was a truce and a renewal of war was only a matter of time . The Middle East was to present to the United Nations its most difficult question.
During the 1948 conflict, 800,000 Palestinians had fled from what was now Israel and lived in refugee camps along the border of Israel and the Arab nations that surrounded Israel. Their lifestyle was poor and the humanitarian side of the United Nations was needed to improve the lot of people who felt that they had been dispossessed of their homeland. The United Nations responded to this problem by setting up the United Nations Relief and Welfare Agency (UNRWA). It was the task of UNRWA to deal with the refugee camps – provide clean water, decent tents etc. – until a political solution could be found for the refugees which would entail them returning to Israel or being accommodated by a nearby Arab nation.
The United Nations also set-up the CCP – Conciliation Commission for Palestine. This body held talks in neutral Switzerland. The main issue that had to be addressed was the border Israel held between itself and its Arab neighbours. In 1948, Israel had taken much of the land from the Palestinians that had been scheduled under the United Nations plan to be given to them.
In
Egypt, lead by Nasser, had nationalised the Suez Canal. Up to 1956, this had been co-owned by Britain and France with both countries benefiting from the profits this canal made. Now, Nasser believed that these profits should go to Egypt.
As a result of this, Britain and France had helped Israel plan out its October attack on Egypt. Their plan was simple – Israel would attack the Sinai (Egypt east of the Suez Canal) while Britain and France would attack and occupy the Suez Canal zone.
When the Security Council voted on a resolution for Israel to withdraw from the Sinai, Britain and France vetoed it. The Security Council transferred its power to the General Assembly using the ‘Uniting For Peace’ principle and the General Assembly of the United Nations called for a cease-fire and on November 5th 1956, it created a United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF). The role of the UNEF was to act as a buffer between the Israelis and the Egyptians thus ensuring that a cease-fire was maintained.
Just one day later the British and French launched their attack on the Suez. The United Nations was powerless to stop this attack. However, America, lead by Eisenhower, expressed its severe reservations regarding this attack and threatened to stop oil supplies to both Britain and France. The Suez Canal could not be used to gain oil as it had been shut. Therefore, unless Britain and France did what America wanted, they would be starved out of oil. They had to pull out of the Suez.
On November 16th 1956. 6000 United Nations troops arrived in the Sinai to keep both Israel and Egypt apart. The United Nations troops came from Finland, Canada, Yugoslavia, Denmark, Norway, Brazil, India and Columbia. They carried only light weapons and were ordered only to use them in self-defence. The UNEF remained in the Sinai as a buffer until told to leave by Nasser in 1967. During the time they were there, 89 UNEF troops had been killed. The mission also cost the United Nations over $200 million.
The UNEF left the Sinai in 1967 because it had agreed that if told to leave it would do so. To many observers, the order by Nasser for the UNEF to withdraw meant that trouble was brewing. Israel feared that she would be attacked and before waiting to be attack, Israel launched attacks on Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Iraq. This war lasted only six days and the fighting only stopped when the Security Council ordered a cease-fire. It also drew up Resolution 242 which they believed would restore peace to the Middle East. Resolution 242 called for:
*The withdrawal of Israeli forces from all Arab land they had occupied
*A solution to the Palestinian refugee problem
*The right of every state concerned in the Middle East to live in peace
*Free navigation of international waterways
*Secure boundaries between each nation in the Middle East.
All the involved nations signed 242 except Syria. However, it was not long before it became clear that each side – Arabs and Jews – interpreted each point differently. Each side also put a different emphasis on each point. What was important to the Arabs had much less importance to Israel. As an example, Israel declared its intention of staying in Arab land that they considered to be of strategic importance to the survival of Israel. The Arab nations viewed the withdrawal of Israeli forces from occupied Arab land as not open to interpretation. With such distrust, it was clear that some form of warfare would occur again. This happened in 1973 and once again the United Nations could do nothing to prevent it.
In 1973, Egypt had a new leader – Anwar Sadat. He announced that any future peace for the Middle East could only be settled once and for all by the use of military force. On Israel’s most holy of days, Yom Kippur, Egypt attacked catching the usually vigilant Israeli forces off guard.
The United Nations called for a cease-fire and passed Resolution
Between 1973 and the 1978 Camp David agreement, most of the work done at a diplomatic level regarding the Middle East was centred on an American input. However, in 1975, the United Nations did criticise Israel regarding its treatment of those Palestinians who continued to live outside of Israel’s borders in refugee camps and who wished to return to live in what they would refer to as Palestine. In 1977, the United Nations also criticised Israel’s policy of building settlements on land they occupied as a result of military victories. The UNDOF was established in
After the so-called Jordanian Black September in 1970, many Palestinian refugees came to Lebanon where they settled in refugee camps at the Lebanese territory. These camps turned into military camps so that Palestinian Arabs started armed attacks in Israel and interfered also with internal politics state of the Lebanese state. After the Israel invasion into southern Lebanon in 1978, the UN Security Council summoned Israel to withdraw from the Lebanese territory and established UN Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL). The task of these units was to monitor a complete withdrawal of the Israeli army from Lebanon, to restore peace and security and to help Lebanon regain control of its territory, which happened only after the full withdrawal of the Israeli army from southern Lebanon in May 2000 . Another Israeli invasion to Lebanon followed in 1982 when the Israeli army got kept part of southern Lebanon territory under its control until 2000.
During the entire time of the Israeli occupation, the UN defended the sovereignty and integrity of the Lebanon state, its right to political independence; the Secretary-General, too, sought to persuade Israel to withdraw its army many times. Al that was, among others, laid down in the UN Resolution No. 425 issued in 1978. The UNIFIL mission contributed also to the mitigation of the military conflict by providing humanitarian aid and protecting civilians.
On April 11th to 27th, 1996, Israel launched one of the biggest military operations in Lebanon called „Grapes of Wrath“. Israel opened a global war in the entire Lebanese territory including its capital. Massacres in Mansouri, Sohmor, Nabatieh, Saida, Kfour followed with the worst being in Cana where one of UN centres was located. The Israeli army fired missiles prohibited by the international law at the Fiji regiment that operated in Cana and cooperated with other international units in Lebanon. Approximately 850 civilians including children and women took shelter in the centre of international forces hoping that the UN flag would protect them. But the Israeli army nearly destroyed the town including the UN centre. This accident is regarded as one of the most gruesome massacres of the 20th century. The text in which the UN Security Council requests Israel to reimburse the damage caused by its military operation in Cana has been submitted to the General Assembly repeatedly since then. Unfortunately, the approval was always short of few votes. There are proposals to transform the text into a UN resolution out of that reason.
After the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000, the SC approved the Secretary-General’s operative plan concerning aid to Lebanon to restore the state authority.
UNIFIL units have remained in the Lebanon territory, better to say in the so-called „Blue Line“ on the south Lebanese-Israeli border where they control the area occupied by Israel formerly. Some observers allege that Israel did not interpret the line of its withdrawal as stipulated in the UN plan correctly. Israel refuses this standpoint. There is an ongoing territorial dispute about the withdrawal of the Israeli army related to the Shebaa farm situated on the very Lebanon-Israel border that is claimed both by the Lebanon and the Israel party. The farm is located on the west side of Anti Lebanon Mountains called also called „Galilee Fingers“.
Israel intrudes the Lebanese airspace frequently. Political party Hizbullah responds to it with anti-aircraft missiles fired from the Lebanon territory towards Israeli border. After the withdrawal of Israeli units from southern Lebanon, Hizbullah, formerly a resistance movement, controls the mentioned part of the Lebanese territory. According to the Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s Personal Representative for southern Lebanon, Steffan de Mistura, Israelis often transgress the Blue Line, intrude the Lebanese airspace, attack Hizbullah’s positions, which caused not only material damage but casualties, too. The UN keeps on admonishing Israel to make an end to its overflights of Lebanon and Lebanon to stop firing anti-aircraft missiles. The UN also appeals to investigate the assassination of ex-prime minister Rafiq Haríri in February
In spite of Israel intruding the Lebanese airspace all the time and occasional tensions, the situation is relatively calm in the Blue line and in Lebanon in general. But in the matter of Golan Heights and Israeli-Syrian relations, no significant progress was made. The Israel occupation of Golan Heights continues.
During the Israeli occupation of the Southern Lebanon and Syrian military presence in Lebanon the UNO always defended sovereignty and complexity of the Lebanese territory, its right for independency. The Secretary – General appealled many times Israel and Syria to withdraw their armies from Lebanon as the UN resolution no. 425 requested since 1978. The UNIFIL mission contributed to moderate the millitant conflict in Lebanon, ensured and distributed the humanitarian aid and protected civilians.
On December 11, 2007, the GA adopted a resolution on agricultural technology for development sponsored by Israel. The Arab group proposed a series of amendments referring to the Palestinian occupied territories, but these amendments were rejected. " The United States was saddened by the inappropriate injection into the agenda item of irrelevant political considerations, characterized by inflammatory remarks that devalued the importance of the United Nations agenda". The resolution was approved by a recorded vote of
Current situation
The automatic majority enjoyed by the pro-Palestinian resolutions is described as such:
Tal Becker, legal advisor to Israel's permanent mission to the UN, visualizes this anti-Israel voting bloc as a series of "concentric circles." The smallest of the circles is the core of twenty Arab nations that constitute what is known as the "Arab group” which initiates the harshest condemnations of Israel. These countries are part of the larger fifty-six-member "Moslem group", all of whom can be counted on to consistently support anti-Israel resolutions. These fifty-six nations represent part of the Non-Aligned group of 115 largely third-world nations that formed during the Cold War and generally have voted as a group independent of Soviet or U.S. influence. And an even larger circle, considered the standard lineup against Israel, is composed of the 133 members of the G-77, which includes all of the developing countries.
A few countries have consistently supported Israel's actions in the UN, such as the United States of America and the states of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Palau all of which are associated states of the U.S. Recently Australia, under the leadership of John Howard, and Canada, under the leadership of Stephen Harper, have also supported Israel at the UN .
Many European countries usually adopt a neutral stance, abstaining from the ongoing condemnations of Israel and supporting the foundation of a Palestinian state. Such countries include France, Russia, and Germany.
United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the 2008 Gaza War
A fact finding mission on Human Rights violations during the 2008 Gaza War between Israel and Hamas was called by the Jan 12 2009 UNHRC Resolution A/HRC/S-9/L.1 which limited the investigation to "violations by the occupying Power, Israel, against the Palestinian people throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory, particularly in the occupied Gaza Strip" but, before any investigation, already "Strongly condemns the ongoing Israeli military operation carried out in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, particularly in the occupied Gaza Strip , which has resulted in massive violations of the human rights of the Palestinian people" .
Former UN high commissioner for human rights and Ireland President Mary Robinson refused to head the mission because she "felt strongly that the Council’s resolution was one-sided and did not permit a balanced approach to determining the situation on the ground."
On April 3, 2009, Richard Goldstone was named as the head of the mission. In an interview, he said "at first I was not prepared to accept the invitation to head the mission". "It was essential," he continued, to expand the mandate to include "the sustained rocket attack on civilians in southern Israel, as well as other facts." He set this expansion of the mandate as a condition for chairing the mission.
Melanie Phillips notes that the resolution that created the mandate allows no such change and questions the validity of the new mandate. "It looks therefore as if he [Goldstone] and the UNHRC President unilaterally tore up both the Council’s mandate and UN regulations". She thinks the mandate was changed in order to allow a negligible criticism of Hamas "to provide Goldstone with the fig-leaf to disguise the moral bankruptcy of the entire process". Israel also thought the change of the mandate didn't have much practical effect.
Israel concluded that "it seemed clear beyond any doubt that the initiative was motivated by a political agenda and not concern for human rights" and therefore refused to cooperate with it – in contrast to its policy to cooperate fully with most of the international inquiries into events in the Gaza Operation.
The mission report was published on Sept 15 2009. As noted in the press release, the mission concluded "that serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law were committed by Israel in the context of its military operations in Gaza from December 27, 2008 to January 18, 2009, and that Israel committed actions amounting to war crimes, and possibly crimes against humanity. The Mission also found that Palestinian armed groups had committed war crimes, as well as possibly crimes against humanity."
Reactions to the report's findings were varied. The report was not immediately ratified by a UNHRC resolution. This step was postponed to March 2010. This delay is attributed to diplomatic pressure from Western members of the Council, including the US which joined in April 2009 and, surprisingly, from the Palestinian Authority representative. About the U.S. pressure, UNHRC representative Harold Hongju Koh described the U.S. participation to the Council as "an experiment" with the Goldstone report being the first test.
The report was finally ratified by the October 14th UNHRC resolution A/HRC/S-12/L.1. Like the January 12th resolution but unlike the report, this ratification condemns Israel, not Hamas .The "unbalanced focus" of the ratification was criticized by U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly , U.S. ambassador to the UNHRC Douglas Griffiths and Richard Goldstone himself.
12 March 2010 – The United Nations-supported diplomatic group seeking to promote peace in the Middle East today condemned Israeli moves to expand settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory of East Jerusalem.
The Quartet, comprising of the UN, the European Union (EU), the US and Russia, “condemns Israel’s decision to advance planning for new housing units in East Jerusalem,” the group said in a statement, agreeing to closely monitor developments in the region.
“The Quartet reiterates that Arab-Israeli peace and the establishment of an independent, contiguous and viable state of Palestine is in the fundamental interests of the parties, of all States in the region, and of the international community,” the statement read.
The statement called for the urgent resumption of talks between the parties to resolve all outstanding issues of the conflict, including the status of Jerusalem.
The Quartet said it will take full stock of the situation at its meeting in Moscow on 19 March. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said that he shared the deep frustrations of Palestinian leaders and of the members of the Arab League over Israel’s plans.
“Settlements are illegal, and their expansion violates the Roadmap [which calls for two States – Israel and Palestine – living side by side in peace and security],” Mr. Ban’s spokesman Martin Nesirky told reporters in New York .In a separate statement, the Secretary-General said the Israeli announcement “undermines any movement towards a viable peace process.”
Can the United Nations Fix the Middle East?
The U.N. could help fix the Middle East on developmental, regional, and economic issues, such as water arrangements. On other issues, the U.N. will never be able to fix the Middle East, for the simple reason that the United States would not let it. The more the United States gets involved in the U.N., the more effective an organization it will be. The repeal of the Zionism-equal-racism equation, for instance, was the outcome of strong American diplomatic work. So was the gathering together of the Gulf war coalition. In fact, after the Gulf war the U.N. was in a state of huge euphoria.
More effort will be required from the United States to make the U.N. a more effective organization when it comes to solving problems related to the Middle East. The Clinton administration, however, is gradually less involved in the work of the U.N., for both internal and external reasons.
We have aimed to evaluate the role of the international and regional organization in the Middle East, especially the UNO role in the Middle East on the basis of selected examples in this paper. The UNO role, or more precisely its peaceful, humanitarian activity, is beneficial in our opinion. The role of UNO being a world organisation in the multidimensional and multicultural world will rise.
UN peacemaking missions implement peace agreements, help to manage political transitions and changes, build institutions, support economic reconstruction, provide protection of refugees and humanitarian aid, supervise or organize elections, monitor observance of human rights, clear minefields, take disarmament measures. To achieve all these tasks, the UN cooperates with regional organisations, Bretton Woods institutions etc. But the main initiative, the signal, must always arise from member states, from a man.
Resources:
The Middle East: ten years after Camp David (by: William B. Quandt)
Israel, the Middle East, and the great powers Israel Stockman-Shomron
The United Nations and international politics (by Stephen Ryan)
United Nations law and the Security Council (by Max Hilaire)
The UN Security Council: from the Cold War to the 21st century (by David Malone)
http://www.globalissues.org/issue/103/middle-east
http://www.honestreporting.com/a/region.asp
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=18®ion_id=13
http://www.globalissues.org/article/119/the-middle-east-conflict-a-brief-background
http://www.the-map-as-history.com/maps/2-history-middle-east-ottoman.php
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/united_nations_middle_east.htm
http://www.un.org/Docs/scres/2002/sc2002.htm
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