The Secretary General of the United Nations expressed his views recently on the Israeli Palestinian conflict. The Israeli ambassador took extreme offence at his comments. Whether the views expressed by Antonio Gutierres were right or wrong, he believed he was right to express them. What do the member states of the United Nations expect from their organization. What is the purpose of the United Nations?

Brief history

The UN was established in 1945 after the Second World War, and its main aims were to promote cooperation among nations and hopefully prevent future wars. It superseded the League of Nations, which was established after the First World War, with similar aims. The basis of the UN’s operation are its charter, which has been signed by all member states. The UN is composed of several bodies

The General Assembly

This is the main policymaking body and has representatives of all member states. Each member has one vote.

The Security Council

This has primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security. There are 15 members and each member has one vote.

Economic and Social Council

This is where the world's economic, and environmental changes are discussed and policy recommendations issued.

Trusteeship Council

This provides international supervision for all 11 Trust territories to help prepare the territories for self-government or independence.

International Court of Justice

This is charged with settling legal disputes between States and giving advisory opinion to the United Nations and its specialised agencies.

Secretariat

This consists of staff of all nationalities working in duty stations all over the world, carrying out the day-to-day work of the organisation.

Funding for the UN comes from member states, and can cause problems when member states cannot contribute as much as they would like. The current Middle East crisis brings into play three of the main areas of UN activity. 1. Peacekeeping and security. 2. Human rights 3. Humanitarian aid number three Humanitarian aid is needed now. This is not the time for the blame game. Innocent civilians, including children, are suffering in Gaza. According to international humanitarian law, the protection of civilians and their human rights is paramount, and are not to be targeted during the conflict. Antonio Gutierres, the Secretary General, condemned the horrific attack by Hamas on the 7th of October but equally, condemned the years of brutal occupation by Israel of the Palestinians. If you have had a knee on your neck for 75 years and nobody helps you, what would your response be? And it was these comments that the Israeli ambassador took grave offence to and demanded that the Secretary General resign. Brief history

The Jews had been promised a national home in Palestine thanks to the Balfour declaration in 1917. This was finally established in 1948, resulting in Palestinians losing land and homes. The land was partitioned by the United Nations, and was one of their first actions after their formation. It should be noted that whilst Israel accepted the partition, Palestine did not. This resulted in more than 700,000 Palestinian Arabs fleeing from their homes or being expelled by the Zionist military. This became known as the Nakba.

Whether the partition decision was right or wrong, we now have to live with it. The UN made the original decision, and they now have to solve the problem it has caused. They cannot solve it on their own. This could well be a turning point in the global role of the UN and the Palestinian-Israeli problem.

Most western nations have stood behind Israel because of the horrific attack by Hamas. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict did not start on October 7th 2023, it started in 1948 and has been an open sore ever since. For the UN to function to its full potential, it needs the support of the member nations. What it cannot afford to do is to try and please all the people all the time. Sometimes the decisions that need to be made will not find favour with some of its members.

The primary concern in the conflict must be the safety and security of the non-combatants; the civilians and the aid workers. This is ensuring that adequate humanitarian aid is available and human rights are not abused. At the very least, a humanitarian pause should be declared, ideally, a ceasefire. The current problems with the UN are that they can bark, but they cannot bite. They have lost a lot of their authority, although their past successes have outweighed their failures

Internationally, we have to accept a two-state solution. But two things have to happen.

1. Israel has to stop treating the Palestinians as second class citizens and remove the blockade on Gaza.

2. Hamas will not have a Palestinian state over the whole of the Israeli/Palestinian land. What the conflict needs is its version of the UK’s Good Friday Agreement.

Hamas, Fatah, the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli government, with an independent chairman, need to sit down and thrash out the details. And this is where the United Nations can regain some of its authority, acting as chairman in the negotiations.

The biggest problem will be getting people around the table, and the instilling of trust between all parties. Hamas and Israel will have to talk to each other. Israel is not leaving, but neither them nor the Palestinians are going to rule the entire area. Both Jews and Palestinians have an equal claim to the land as their ancestral birthright.

Politicians of Western Nations and other Middle East countries need to be involved. Heads will have to be knocked together and vested interests put aside, and the negotiators will have to be robust. The burying of old scores will be necessary, and some unpalatable compromises will have to be made. (As a result of the UK’s Good Friday Agreement, more than 400 prisoners were released from the Maze Prison, some of whom had been convicted of murder and sentenced to life). Politically, the West, by involving themselves in the negotiations, will still retain some credibility and influence in the region. I suspect the general population of both Israel and Palestine would welcome the chance of peace with each other, BUT THE POLITICAL WILL NEEDS TO BE THERE.

Israel-Palestine; two peoples, one land is a far better slogan.