You call those sources? Lieberman's biography on web indicates he is
Zionist as is his wife, serves on an Israelie board....the only thing I
worry about is number two man put into white house office of President
by Assassins Bullet, for I still remember JFK.
Rants? You better believe it......the whole world unites against USA
and Israel....here is some documentation for you ......and no I do not
think the son of a guy who owned a booze joint is such a holy man, not
with his voting record.....for it is obvious we have a token black, and
a token jew now - who run as such, and not men or women.
JFK ran as a man.......he did not serve two masters.
Saba
CONVENING THE PARTIES TO THE FOURTH GENEVA CONVENTION:
THE UN POLITICIZES HUMANITARIAN LAW
Prepared
By
The B'nai B'rith
Center for Public Policy
March 1999
On February 9, 1999 the United Nations General Assembly resumed an
Emergency Special Session which overwhelmingly adopted a resolution that
recommends the convening of the parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention
for the Protection of Civilians in Time of War. Only Israel and the
United States opposed the resolution, which carried by a vote of 115 to
2 with 5 abstentions.
The Swiss Government, as the depositary of the Geneva Convention, has
been asked to convene the parties to the Geneva Convention on July 15,
1999. The purpose of the meeting is to adopt measures to enforce the
Convention and stop Israel from building in "the Occupied Palestinian
Territory including Jerusalem".
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) supported by the Arab Group
and the Non-Aligned Movement, which consists of over 100 countries
currently chaired by South Africa, argued that convening the parties
will mark a major development in the history of international
humanitarian law. The PLO has had observer status at the U.N. since
1974, and continues to operate there. Several years ago it persuaded the
General Assembly to change the name by which it is called at the UN to
"Palestine". Under the Oslo Accords, the Palestinian Authority (PA) is
forbidden to conduct international relations.
The Problem
Israel, supported by the United States, noted that the parties to the
Fourth Geneva Convention have never been convened in the entire 50 year
history since the 1949 Convention was adopted, not even in the face of
the most egregious violations. To convene the parties to a convention
which was adopted in response to Nazi atrocities during the Holocaust,
for the purpose of considering the building of homes in Jerusalem and
the neighboring territories, would make an obscene mockery of the
Convention and thoroughly politicize it.
The Israelis argued further that the PLO initiative to convene the
parties violates the undertaking by the Palestinians in the Oslo Accords
not to use the UN for political warfare against Israel. It violates as
well, a written commitment sent by Chairman Yasser Arafat to (then)
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin that issues of permanent status, such as
Jerusalem, would only be dealt with directly by the parties. The PLO
initiative would also open up the possibility that the parties to the
Convention could be convened every time any country is involved in a
territorial dispute. In fact, there is even doubt as to whether the
General Assembly has any standing which would enable it to call for
convening the parties to the Geneva Convention. In addition, to convene
the convention will have significant political consequences. The blatant
and biased international pressure directed against Israel by a meeting
of the parties would force any new government in Israel to resist, and
thus be counterproductive to the peace process and the ostensible aims
of the meeting. In short, as pointed out during the UN debate by US
Ambassador A. Peter Burleigh, the UN resolution to convene the Geneva
Convention parties "constitutes an unacceptable assault on the basic use
and meaning of the Fourth Geneva Convention" and is likely to damage
"the environment between the parties � precisely at the time when
actions are needed to improve the environment."
This is not the first time the PLO has pushed through such a resolution.
It has instigated the resumption of the Emergency Special Session and
the adoption of similar resolutions periodically since April 1997,
although no real emergency has existed. Not wanting to damage the
effectiveness of a strictly humanitarian convention by politicizing it,
or to undermine the Middle East peace process, the Swiss have thus far
reacted cautiously. In response to similar resolutions that have been
adopted in the past, the Swiss organized two meetings in 1998 � the
first was attended by Israel, the PLO, the ICRC (International Committee
of the Red Cross) and Switzerland, and the other meeting was attended by
a group of experts on the convention. The purpose of both meetings was
to achieve genuine humanitarian improvements.
When the PLO dismissed these practical steps and pushed through another
resolution on February 9th calling for the parties to meet, the Swiss
argued that fairness required the development of non-discriminatory
general guidelines or principles in two areas: First, under what
circumstances should the parties to the Convention be convened? Second,
what measures should the parties be able to undertake to enforce the
terms of the Convention? The Swiss also raised other relevant issues
such as what should be the rules of procedure for the proposed
conference and who should pay for it.
As a next step, the Swiss have prepared a questionnaire which was sent
on March 10th to all 188 parties to the Geneva Convention. It is not
clear whether each party to the Convention has to answer individually or
whether group responses will be accepted. For example, if South Africa
claims to answer on behalf of over 100 members of the Non-Aligned
Movement, will that single answer count as a majority? What is clear
from the tone of the questions is that the Swiss Government has come
under great pressure from the PLO and its supporters, for reportedly
none of the questions deal with the need to maintain the integrity of
the Convention by developing general guidelines of reconvening the
parties and dealing with the most egregious violations.
A portion of the memorandum to the 188 signatories follows:
"In order to obtain the necessary clarification regarding the modalities
of such a conference, the Swiss Government, in its capacity as the
Depository, submits today the following questions to the High
Contracting Parties for their consideration:
Who could take the initiative to convene such a conference, and how many
States Parties should express their approval to enable it to be
convened: all; a majority of them (simple or qualified); a majority of
the States Parties, or majority of the States which have voiced their
position?
What importance should be attached so the position of the parties
principally concerned by such a conference; the same importance as so
that of any other State Party; special importance (such as that to
postpone or prevent the conference taking place)?
How should decisions be made in the preparatory phase regarding the
modalities of such a conference, including those concerning the rules of
procedure, the chairmanship and bureau, the agenda, invited observers,
etc.; through detailed written consultation; through informal
consultation; or through a preparatory meeting?
What should such a conference aim to achieve; a resolution or
recommendation; a report approved by a consensus of the participating
states; a chairperson's report produced under his sole responsibility; a
declaration by the chairperson?
Who would bear the costs of such a conference?"
What Is To Be Done?
B'nai B'rith regards the UN General Assembly action as an unacceptable
intrusion into the Israeli-Palestinian negotiating process. It is
clearly intended to pre-judge those negotiations and put added and undue
pressure on Israel to influence the results of those talks. Furthermore
given the lack of operational guidelines and parameters associated with
convening a conference of the Fourth Geneva Convention, and the complete
inappropriateness of convening the body for the purposes articulated, we
urge the United States and its allies to work for the cancellation of
this conference scheduled for July 1999.
Barring cancellation of the Conference, we urge our government and other
nations not to participate in its deliberations.
Should, however, the conference go forward, B'nai B'rith urges the
United States (which already opposes the politicization of this
Convention), to intercede at the highest levels and in the strongest
terms with other parties to the Convention, to encourage them to prevent
the politicization of the Convention by opposing a conference of the
parties until fair nondiscriminatory guidelines have been agreed upon.
General Assembly 10th Emergency Special Session Resolution ES-10/6
Subject:
Illegal Israeli Actions in Occupied East Jerusalem
Yes Votes
Algeria
Andorra
Angola
Antigua-Barbuda
Argentina
Armenia
Azerbaijan
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Barbados
Belarus
Belgium
Benin
Bhutan
Bolivia
Botswana
Brazil
Brunei Darussalam
Bulgaria
Burkina Faso
Chile
China
Colombia
Comoros
Costa Rica
Cote d'Ivoire
Croatia
Cuba
Cyprus
Czech Republic
DPR of Korea
Denmark
Egypt
Eritrea
Estonia
Finland
France
Gabon
Germany
Greece
Guatemala
Guyana
Hungary
Iceland
India
Indonesia
Iran
Ireland
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Kuwait
Lao PDR
Latvia
Lebanon
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malaysia
Maldives
Mali
Malta
Mexico
Monaco
Morocco
Mozambique
Myanmar
Namibia
Nepal
Netherlands
New Zealand
Nigeria
Norway
Oman
Pakistan
Paraguay
Peru
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Qatar
Rep of Korea
Russian Fed
Saint Lucia
San Marino
Saudi Arabia
Senegal
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovenia
Solomon Islands
South Africa
Spain
Sri Lanka
Sudan
Suriname
Sweden
Syrian AR
Tajikistan
Thailand
Tunisia
Turkey
Ukraine
UA Emirates
United Kingdom
UR Tanzania
Uruguay
Venezuela
Viet Nam
Zimbabwe
No Votes
Israel
United States
(Remember the USS Liberty? I do.)
Abstentions
Australia
Bahamas
Cameroon
Romania
Swaziland
Return to the B'nai B'rith Center For Public Policy.
Return to B'nai B'rith Interactive's home page.
A. Saba
Dare To Call It Conspiracy
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