The Exchange

“Referring to last week’s UN Security Council call for an immediate ceasefire, Mr Olmert said ‘nobody should be allowed to decide for us if we are allowed to strike’”.

On the contrary Mr. Olmert, according to the UN Charter, the Security Council has the ultimate jurisdiction to determine a threat to international peace and security and to order an immediate cessation of any hostile activity in the world. Respect for this authority vested in the Security Council is the thin thread on which hangs the modern world order. It is undeniable that according to Article 51 of the UN Charter, a State may individually or collectively exercise its right to self-defence when faced with an armed attack. Nevertheless, the same Article clearly spells out, “Measures taken by Members in the exercise of this right of self-defence shall be immediately reported to the Security Council and shall not in any way affect the authority and responsibility of the Security Council under the present Charter to take at any time such action as it deems necessary in order to maintain or restore international peace and security”.

Since its inception, the Security Council has been more guilty of impotence and indecision than excessive interference into the affairs of States. Resolution 1860 (January 2009) on the other hand (in which the US abstained - not blocking the vote) is a rare and welcome example of international consensus for peace, as the UN “stresses the urgency of and calls for an immediate, durable and fully respected ceasefire, leading to the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza”. In claiming that this legally binding declaration is somehow illegitimate, Mr. Olmert displays the symptoms of selective memory, a virus most commonly found amongst top echelon politicians. Let us not forget that it was UN General Assembly Resolution 181 that effectively legitimized the creation of the independent Israeli nation. If the government of Israel is now questioning the authority of the United Nations, then it is also questioning the very legitimacy of its own existence.

Legal and political matters aside; my voice joins millions of others across the globe in condemning the cold-hearted violence of the Israeli forces against innocent civilians in Gaza.