Editorial:

Affront to humanity

The Howard Government's foreign policy sank to its lowest and 
vilest depths last week when Australia, the US, Israel and three 
other US puppet governments voted against a UN General Assembly 
resolution condemning the construction by Israel of a wall which 
cuts deep into Palestinian territory on the West Bank.

The three other governments opposing the resolution were the 
former US colonies and now moninally independant tiny Pacific 
Island states at Palau, Micronesia and the Marshall Islands.

The wall is an affront to humanity. The UN International Court of 
Justice, with only the US dissenting, not only condemned the wall 
but also demanded that it be pulled down.

The US, Australia and even Israel claim that they are bringing 
democracy, freedom and peace to the world and that they stand for 
the "rule of law". But this latest action shows again that these 
governments are outrageous hypocrites with their credibility and 
morality in the gutter. They are scum on the body-politic of the 
world. One hundred and fifty countries, including every 
government of the European Union, voted in support of the UN 
resolution.

The US regularly disregards and vetoes UN resolutions that do not 
suit its interests while cynically forcing other nations on pain 
of boycott or military threat and occupation to carry out 
resolutions that are in the imperial interests of US 
corporations. It also rushes to get the support of the UN 
whenever it finds itself in a corner as is now the situation in 
Iraq.

The US Government together with the apartheid Sharon Government 
of Israel (now joined by Australia) have been systematically 
sabotaging every possible step forward to this end while at the 
same time, talking of a "road map to peace".

The Israeli wall is a major grab of more Palestinian land. About 
35,000 Palestinians will be cut off from their lands, schools and 
hospitals. If Israel were honest in its claim to be concerned 
about its security, it would build a wall on its own territory 
and not thieve Palestinian lands. Israel's 435 mile long wall 
will effectively divide the West Bank into cantonments making the 
creation of a Palestinian state an impossibility.

The double standards of the US and many other nations are shown 
by the fact that while action is demanded against Iran, Iraq, 
Libya and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea regarding 
their alleged preparations to build nuclear weapons, the reality 
of Israel's nuclear weapons is ignored. It is well know that 
Israel has nuclear weapons and has not signed the Nuclear Non-
Proliferation Treaty.

For many years Israel, backed all the way by successive US 
leaders, has ignored the unanimous UN Security Council resolution 
242 adopted in 1967 that calls for the "withdrawal of Israel's 
armed forces from territories occupied" in its invasion of Arab 
territories during the six-day war in 1967.

For 37 years Israel has thumbed its nose at this and a number of 
similar resolutions. It has been able to get away with this 
defiance only because of the support from the US and the 
spinelessness of many other governments that lack the courage to 
stand up to the pressures and threats of the United States.

For its part the Labor Party, in criticising the Howard 
Government, said that Australia should have abstained from voting 
on the UN General Assembly resolution. Such a stand also ignores 
the near-unanimous and principled decision of the International 
Court of Justice, which has been recognised by Australia. It is 
just as much a capitulation to US and Israeli demands and 
interests as the open vote of Howard and Downer.

It is this sort of shilly-shallying and weakness that allows the 
United States and Israel to get away with policies that prevent, 
at every turn, any settlement on the basis of principle of the 
Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

The US often complains and does not seem to understand why around 
the world the name of the US leader is reviled. It may not be 
long before the rest of the world says the same of Australian 
governments — unless they stop acting as a servile puppet of the 
US.