A UN Tale

Far, far be it from JINSA to defend the UN; even now, we’re waiting for the other shoe to drop following The Hague advisory that Israel is not entitled to defend its citizens from terrorists. Nevertheless, we do acknowledge that the UN can be right – after exhausting every possible way to get it wrong.

Far, far be it from JINSA to defend the UN; even now, we’re waiting for the other shoe to drop following The Hague advisory that Israel is not entitled to defend its citizens from terrorists. Nevertheless, we do acknowledge that the UN can be right – after exhausting every possible way to get it wrong.

The Palestinian Authority pays 45,000 “police” and “security forces” in the territories, more per capita than anywhere in the world. Tens of millions of dollars have been sunk into them, much of it unaccounted for. They are the chief smugglers of illegal weapons into the territories through Gaza – a Palestinian officer captained the Karine-A weapons ship sailing from Iran. Since 1995, these forces have been engaged in open warfare against Israel, each other, and hapless Palestinians who run afoul of Mr. Arafat (summary executions, often in the streets as a warning, are an unreported story in the U.S.). CIA training assistance in the late 1990s simply produced better-trained terrorists.

The UN has finally taken a look at the wreckage these Storm Troopers have wrought – at least on their own people, though not their complicity in terrorism against Israelis. UN Middle East envoy Terje Roed-Larsen, normally extraordinarily hostile to Israel, has denounced the PA police in a report to his masters in New York, specifically adding, “this collapse of authority cannot be attributed only to the Israeli incursions and operations inside Palestinian towns.” Though, in a clear move to protect his reputation, Roed-Larsen also criticized what he called Israel’s failure to remove unauthorized Israeli outposts in the West Bank.

Police-as-police, not goons, have stopped functioning except in Jericho, leading to chaos and an impending collapse throughout the PA areas, according to Roed-Larsen. “Clashes and showdowns between branches of Palestinian security forces are now common in the Gaza Strip, where Palestinian Authority legal authority is receding fast in the face of the mounting power of arms, money and intimidation… Lawlessness and gang rule are becoming common in Nablus.”

According to news reports, he said the PA “has made no progress on its core obligation to take immediate action on the ground to end violence and combat terror… the paralysis of [the PA] has become abundantly clear and the deterioration of law and order in Palestinian areas is steadily worsening… The PA is in deep distress and is in real danger of collapse.”

Notes:

• A senior adviser to Arafat replied, “It’s strange for him to play the role of the cheerleader, basically, for Mr. Sharon,” adding that Roed-Larsen would no longer be welcome in the territories.
• The day after the report, the UN reported that a food convoy came under fire in the northern Gaza Strip. Israeli military sources said the UN convoy entered Beit Hanoun as Palestinians were firing.