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As the year ended, one of the oldest international crises, the Palestinian problem, slipped further away from a solution when the United States this week threatened the use of its veto power to defeat a United Nations Security Council resolution seeking recognition for the State of Palestine. 

This was the second time in recent years that Palestine has tried and failed at the UNSC in its bid to gain international recognition. On both occasions, it was the United States that prevented the Palestinians from realising their legitimate right to statehood. Under the Montevideo Convention, Palestine has all the qualifications to become a state. It has a territory although much of it has been occupied by Israel since 1967; it has a population and a political authority. What more factors do the US and Israel need for Palestine to become a state?

Palestine Liberation Organisation Executive Committee member Hanan Ashrawi described the negative vote of the US and Australia as “outrageously shameful”. 

“It is ironic that while the United Nations designated 2014 as the International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, the resolution failed to pass as an indication of a failure of will by some members of the international community,” she said in a statement.

An angry Palestine in a dramatic move yesterday signed papers to join the Hague-based International Criminal Court – a move that could pave the way for the Palestinians to sue Israeli officials over war crimes.

The negative vote of the US and Australia shut the door of peace for Palestinians. When the door of peace is shut, the door of violence opens. The US and Israel are quick to condemn this violence as terrorism though there is space in international law for an oppressed and colonised people to take up arms to fight for their freedom. 

The United States’ blind support for Israel at the cost of justice for the Palestinian people is one of the key factors that have bred the so-called Islamic terrorism. Justice for the Palestinian people was one of the reasons al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden cited in justification of his attacks on US targets.  If the Palestinian issue is solved in a just manner, almost 90 per cent of the so-called Islamic terrorism will disappear.

The appalling negative vote of the US endorses every wrongdoing Israel has committed and gives credence to the claims that Washington breeds terrorism. 
Disappointed peace activists say the highly watered down resolution was consistent with the US policy, international law and previous UN resolutions. There was no reason for the US other than pleasing Israel in view of the 2016 presidential election to defeat the resolution which called for peace within a year and a 2017 deadline to end the Israeli occupation.  Much arm twisting or oiling of palms had resulted in Non-Aligned countries like Nigeria and Rwanda ditching Palestine while Britain where only a month ago Parliament passed a non-binding resolution recognising Palestine decided to abstain from voting.  While the Palestinian cause is gaining some sympathy in Europe, developing countries, once regarded as pillars of non-alignment and global justice, are abandoning the Palestinians. The new government of Narendra Modi has downgraded its Palestine policy from one of ‘yes vote’ to abstention. Palestinians are fast losing their friends one by one. It was one of the saddest political developments of 2014.

Moving on to Afghanistan, starting yesterday, Afghan National Security forces took full responsibility for the country’s security after the US-led International Security Assistance Force wound up its combat operations in keeping with a promise made by US President Barack Obama.  

As the ISAF leaves after 13 plus years and some 3,500 casualties, the new government of President Ashraf Ghani struggles to extend its writ to every part of the country.  At present the government has little control of the countryside which is under the control of the Taliban and warlords dealings in the dangerous trade of heroin. 

Afghanistan cannot be pushed into the hands of the Taliban, who are notorious for their barbarism and stupidity. Led by one-eyed Mullah Omar, the Taliban, who have described the end of the ISAF combat mission as a victory, are probably salivating for a rerun of their conquest of Kabul in 1996 when they evicted the Mujahideen-led government of Prof. Burhanuddin Rabbani. In this war to capture Afghanistan, the Taliban were assisted by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence and indirectly by the United States. Once the Taliban were firmly in power, US oil companies, disregarding the horrendous human rights record of the Taliban, had discussions with them on a pipeline project that would take oil and gas from landlocked Central Asia to tankers at the port of Karachi.  Some Taliban leaders were even taken to the White House where they were introduced as the equivalent of America’s founding fathers.

Even after the 9/11 attacks took place, the then US President, George W. Bush, probably hopeful of striking the pipeline deal, did not want to attack Afghanistan. On the contrary he wanted to attack Iraq. It was only after his defence advisors convinced him otherwise that the President focused his attention on Afghanistan. The war began on October 7, 2001 with the aim of eliminating al-Qaeda’s terrorist network which the United States accused of carrying out the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York’s World Trade Centre and the Pentagon. Within two months and after killing some 3,500 Afghan civilians, the Taliban regime was ousted and the US installed a puppet regime. 

The war claimed the lives of at least ten thousand Afghans a year during the past 13 years. It has created havoc not only in Afghanistan but also Pakistan. It was only two weeks ago that a Taliban-affiliated group, the Pakistan Taliban, killed more than 130 schoolchildren in what was condemned as a heinous crime of the worst kind. The Taliban are a destructive force.

To prevent the Taliban from capturing power and taking the country on a reverse journey, President Ghani has two options – hold talks with the Taliban or wage war. Some kind of a deal with the moderate factions of the Taliban could be a starter on the path to peace. The international community should support Ghani in this effort. As a first step, countries such as India, Pakistan, the United States, Russia and China should stop the political games they play in Afghanistan to undermine rivals.