Paralyzed amid slaughter
The dramatic developments in Israel and Palestine, the hard-line policy by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, and the blatant inability of the international community to stop the carnage have once again raised the question of what is the role of the United Nations. What sort of security can the Security Council guarantee today to the organization’s member-countries in terms of an international legal order? The ongoing drama in the Middle East could create hot-spots in many parts of the world. European leaders express fears that the fierce fighting between Jews and Muslims could create tensions on the Continent, but US President George W. Bush and Sharon continue to ignore Security Council Resolution I402 on the conflict, which ordered a ceasefire and Israel’s withdrawal from Palestinian territories. The American administration is showing tolerance toward the Israeli military crackdown on so-called Palestinian terrorism. US tolerance has determined developments until now, while the UN secretary general has had no influence over the events. The barbarities committed on Palestinian land have met with the indulgence of the Bush administration and are encouraged by the US stance. Sharon has paid no attention to the views expressed by third parties, even those held by a considerable number of Israeli civilians, who are anxiously trying to stop the slaughter while the Palestinian kamikazes kill their fellow-citizens. As for the journalists who lose their lives there, their loss does not seem to be of any concern to the new world order. In the 1930s, the League of Nations dissolved due to the inabilities of Western democracies, and then brought on the Second World War. What is to be the fate of the UN and post-war international legal order in the so-called globalized environment and new world order which is shaped according to the whims of a sole superpower? Developments after the 1990s show that the concept of international law is increasingly being sidelined. The UN seems to be more and more limited to a superficial role, making it of less benefit to the international community. In Europe, the democracies that celebrated the dissolution of the communist system now stand paralyzed before the Mideast slaughter.
