US bristles as India, Brics take own line on Palestine

New York: It’s the time of year when we see high-stakes diplomacy as world leaders converge at the United Nations headquarters in New York. As usual the US and Iran will trade vicious barbs, India and Pakistan will exchange banalities on the sidelines, but the spotlight is on the Palestinians edging closer to seeking statehood recognition from the UN. Despite heated Israeli objections and a threatened US veto, the Palestinians on Tuesday vowed to submit a letter formally requesting full UN membership when Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas addresses the General Assembly on Friday. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is expected to examine the Palestinian letter and then send it to the UN Security Council which must give its approval before a vote in the larger General Assembly. President Barack Obama has already threatened to veto the Palestinian application for membership in the UN later this week. Obama’s stance will once again put Washington in direct opposition to much of the rest of the world. India, Brazil and South Africa have temporary seats on the 15-member UN Security Council where the Palestinians enjoy the support of a majority of the countries. In the General Assembly too, where a vote would be non-binding, the Palestinians enjoy the support of more than 120 of the 193 members. If it were to come to a vote in the assembly, passage of a Palestine statehood resolution would be all but assured. Hardeep Singh Puri, India’s permanent representative to the UN, disparaged suggestions that India would succumb to US pressure. India was the first non-Arab country to recognise the Palestinian aspiration for statehood, Puri reminded sharp-elbowed reporters in New York. To demonstrate how India will vote if matters come to a head, Puri produced Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s letter to Palestinian president Abbas assuring him of India’s “full support.” “India has always supported the Palestinian people in their pursuit of legitimate goals and for development with dignity and self-reliance. I assure you of India’s full support in the United Nations,” Singh wrote in a letter to Abbas who had sounded him out on the statehood issue. The letter also noted India has been “unwavering in its support for the Palestinian people’s struggle for a sovereign, independent, viable and united state of Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital." Earlier this year, the US vetoed a UN resolution condemning Israeli settlements that was supported by all 14 of the other members of the Security Council, and 120 of the UN’s 193 member states. With the Palestinian issue looming large over the General Assembly that opens on Wednesday, the US is trying to block president Abbas from getting a necessary nine votes in the Council so that it won’t be forced into vetoing the resolution. The Obama administration is aware a controversial, one-sided US veto will cast Washington as a bully. [caption id=“attachment_88480” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“President Barack Obama has already threatened to veto the Palestinian application for membership in the UN. Reuters”] [/caption] By getting Europe and countries like India, Brazil and Africa to support it in the UN, the Palestinians have shown they have the power to force action on the issue at a time when Israel is increasingly isolated in the region. The US has courted the world’s rising powers, and President Obama publicly backed India’s hopes to one day be a permanent member of the UN Security Council on his visit to India in November last year. Ironically, now that India along with South Africa and Brazil have rotating seats on the Security Council, US officials complain they’re not “living up to expectations.” “This has been an opportunity for them to demonstrate how they might act if they were to obtain permanent membership, and for us to assess our level of enthusiasm about that,” said Susan Rice, the US ambassador to the UN. “Let me just say we’ve learned a lot, and not all of it, frankly, encouraging,” grumbled Rice. Rice is miffed as she wants India, Brazil and South Africa to toe the US line on Palestine, and be more eager to get Security Council action on Syria. Unlike America, the three emerging powers want to try diplomacy with Syrian President Bashar Assad. Slideshow of the history of Israel and Palestine through images [fpgallery id=230] It’s childish for America to sulk that New Delhi is not living up to expectations at the UN as India rarely behaves as a junior partner. Former US ambassador Teresita C Schaffer rightly noted that even when Washington bent over backwards to ensure the India-US civil nuclear energy deal was endorsed by the 44-member Nuclear Suppliers Group, India only voted 14.7 percent of the time with the US at the UN. Clearly, America has to accept that India is no budding junior partner, and will not act as a lieutenant for US interests. Singh will address the UN General Assembly on Thursday after a gap of two years. He will touch on India’s battle with cross-border terrorism and talk up the need for Security Council reform and inclusive growth.

US bristles as India, Brics take own line on Palestine

The US is miffed that India, which it has backed for a permanent Security Council seat, is not going to toe its line on Palestinian statehood.

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