In his last address to the United Nations Security Council on December 16, outgoing Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon recognised that the UN is biased against Israel.
“Decades of political manoeuvrings have created a disproportionate volume of resolutions, reports and conferences criticising Israel,” Ban said. “In many cases, rather than helping the Palestinian cause, this reality has hampered the ability of the UN to fulfil its role effectively.”
Only one week later, the Security Council itself passed another Israel resolution. Resolution 2334 said that Israel’s settlements in the West Bank have “no legal validity” and constitute a “flagrant violation” of international law.
Settlements and borders are actually among the more resolvable of the core issues of the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Two precedents are instructive.
Read the full article by Peter Wertheim and Alex Ryvchin at The Sydney Morning Herald.