IMPHAL, December 1: “The Coordination Committee (CorCom) of seven Revolutionary Parties ( viz, KCP, KYKL, PREPAK, PREPAK (Pro), RPF, UNLF & UPPK) of Manipur (Kangleipak) congratulates the Palestinian people on their unique diplomatic victory they achieved on November 29, 2012 when the United Nations General Assembly took a resolution to upgrade their status from that of an ‘observer entity’ they have enjoyed since 1974 to that of a ‘non-member observer state’, a status that the Vatican City holds now, by a huge majority vote of 138 to 9, with 41 abstentions,” said a CorCom release.
According to the release, “President Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, in his speech delivered at the UNGA urging the members to vote in their favour, termed the resolution as the birth certificate of Palestine. This is, indeed, a gigantic step closer to an independent Palestine. This UN General Assembly Resolution is virtually the same as recognition of the Palestinian state by UN members, despite the US objection that ‘this resolution does not establish that Palestine is a state’. According to Prof Iain Scobbie of London University, ‘it would then be seen as being a state in terms of international law and international relations.’
“In 2011 the Palestinian Authority under President Abbas failed in their bid to become a full member state of the UNO, because of their inability to get the required support of the Security Council, coupled with the elements of inhibition engendered by the fear of US veto during their diplomatic campaign, ‘Palestine 194’ by name.
“The Palestinian tactic of circumventing inevitable US veto against Palestinian statehood is praiseworthy. Security Council resolutions can be vetoed, whereas full membership requires endorsement of the Council. So, in the contemporary context their chance of attaining full membership was extremely deem, as the US was determined to stall it, if it was without Israeli consent. They opted for non-member observer statehood, on the matter of which the UN Charter is silent, and they succeeded. The US and Israel are helpless and, finding no alternative to do, they resort to threatening the Palestinians. The US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton called the move ‘unfortunate and counter-productive’. Israeli Prime Minister’s office reacted naively and said, “This is a meaningless decision that will not change anything on the ground”.
This decision has far-reaching political implications. The non-member observer state status will give the Palestinians the right to membership in UN agencies and other international bodies like the ICC. If Palestine chooses to join the ICC and sign the ICC charter, the Rome Statute, it can take up legal action against Israeli occupation, Israeli war crimes and human rights violations in the West Bank and the Gaza strip. Americans are worried. A group of senators, cutting across party lines, threaten to move a legislation to close the Palestinian office in Washington and to stop all financial aid to the Palestinian Authority, in case they approach the ICC. This is not the only issue. Now the Palestinian observer state can invite UN peacekeepers to Palestine, creating unmanageably grave international legal and political crisis. In the near future, Israel will give in to concede independence to Palestine.
All these are the fruits of 65 years of independence struggle, comprised of terroristic actions, guerrilla wars, intifadas, and intricate negotiations. A wonderful cocktail of these activities has brought about the present Palestinian achievement. There is a lot of truth in the Hamas claim that it was a victory of their military strategy during the last month’s 8-day conflict with Israel.
Home-made rocket shells fired by the Hamas could reach the outskirts of Tel Aviv and
Jerusalem. This caused a great deal of panic in the hearts of Israelis, even though most of the rocket shells were warded off by their Iron Dome system.
“We, in the West South East Asia (WESEA, popularly known as the North-East India), have a lot to learn from and emulate the Palestinians. Their relentless struggle has melted hardest of the hard human hearts; they can now garner undivided international support. Israel and the US are completely isolated. Except the USA, Canada and Czech Republic, all major and significant nations stood in favour of Palestine, against the lone superpower’s wishes. Nauru, Palau, Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Panama, that voted against Palestine, are negligibly tiny nations,” the release said.
“Now the alignment of world political forces is changing unrecognizably; and this change is in favour our independence struggle. We should continue our struggle uniting all the peoples and progressive forces of WESEA. We should not allow ourselves to be cowed by momentary reverses. Let’s banish all forms of capitulationism from our minds,” it added.