Ban stays steadfast

Ban Ki-moon did not hesitate the first time or waver the second. The first time was on Tuesday when the UN Secretary-General, referring to the Palestinians, told a UN committee on Palestinian rights at the Security Council that it was human nature for oppressed peoples to react to occupation, that the wave of Palestinian attacks was driven by a “profound sense of alienation and despair” among some Palestinians, particularly the young, and that Israel’s settlement-building program cast doubt on its commitment to the creation of a Palestinian state. Ban could have stopped there. He not only had bashed Israel enough but soon after the address, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Ban of “encouraging terror”. The UN chief made clear that he would not retreat from the broadsides. In fact, the next day, at a General Assembly committee, he doubled down. “After nearly 50 years of occupation - after decades of waiting for the fullfilment of the Oslo promises - Palestinians are losing hope,” Ban said, angered by the stifling policies of the occupation. Palestinians have heard “half a century of statements” condemning Israel’s occupation, but their lives have not improved. Despite the issuing of statements, despite the concern always expressed and the solidarity most of the world shows, life has not changed for the Palestinians who watch as the world endlessly debates how to divide land while it disappears before their very eyes. Is it, as Ban described it and as Palestinians wondered, all meant to simply run out the clock? Ban stood by every word of his criticism of Israeli settlement building, especially after Israel has just approved the construction of 153 new settler homes in the West Bank, marking the end of an informal construction freeze in the West Bank that lasted for 18 months. The settlements and expansion program are illegal because they undermine plans for a Palestinian state by absorbing land earmarked for the new country. The United Nations has always branded Israeli settlements illegal and who better to state the point out loud than the head of the UN himself? This was not the first time Ban has broadsided Netanyahu. In October 2014, he strongly criticized Israeli settlement-building and challenged Netanyahu to show leadership and make compromises for peace. Of course, nothing ever came out of that. Ban’s comments were the latest in a recent series of diplomatic spats between Netanyahu and various foreign leaders and organizations. The Swedish foreign minister suggested that Israel was guilty of extrajudicial killings of Palestinians, the US ambassador to Israel said “two standards” seem to apply in the way the law is applied to Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank, and the EU issued new guidelines for the labeling of some products made in Israeli settlements on occupied land to distinguish West Bank produce made in Israeli settlements from Palestinian West Bank produce. There are reasons why Ban, who is normally soft-spoken and averse to blunt language, has this time come out so strongly in the defense of Palestinians and on the attack against Israel. Ban is preparing to leave office at the end of the year and so may seem more determined to speak out more since he has nothing to lose. He also might have upped the pressure on Netanyahu in a final bid to revive hopes for peace before he steps down. Ban might be thinking he could do what Obama and Kerry could not: resume the peace talks which broke down last year. Ban rejected Netanyahu’s comment that his remarks justify terrorism. The leader of the international community stayed on message that Israel is justifying its own terrorism.