Opinion Editorials, June 2010

The Futility of UNSC Resolutions Against Iran

By Kourosh Ziabari

Al-Jazeerah: CCUN, June 14, 2010

 
Although the United Nations Security Council, which some politicians believe is one of the most undemocratic organizations in the world, voted in favor of a fourth round of sanctions against Iran over its uranium enrichment program, the global public opinions are well aware of the fact that 15 countries, 5 of which are entitled to remain in an unquestionable monopoly and dominance, cannot in reality represent the interests of the international community.
 
The Security Council, which since its establishment has made discriminatory decisions against the world countries, especially the non-aligned nations who typically try to escape from the hegemony of superpowers, is notorious for its habitual exercise of double standards and it's clear to everyone that its resolutions are more often than not futile, ineffective, biased and unbinding.
 
Since 1948, the Security Council has adopted 223 resolutions in condemnation of Israel's violations of international law, including the occupation of Palestinian lands, unilateral incursions into the Lebanese and Syrian soils, developing nuclear weapons, deporting the Palestinian citizens from their homes and building illegal settlements in the West Bank. Interestingly, the Israeli regime did not pay attention to any of these resolutions and the UNSC never pursued its demands to hold Tel Aviv accountable for its continued, flagrant defiance of international regulations.
 
For instance, the UNSC resolution 487 demanded Israel to put its nuclear facilities under the comprehensive safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Israel never heeded the call and the UNSC never sued Israel for its inattentiveness to the resolution.
 
As another example, the Security Council adopted six consequent resolutions in the wake of 1982 Lebanon War, calling on Israel to cease its military activities and withdraw its forces from the Lebanese territory, but Israel refused to accept the resolutions until the resolution 517 was adopted in which Tel Aviv was strongly censured for its failure to obey the UNSC resolutions since March 1982.
 
The criminal state of Israel, since its establishment, attacked all of its neighboring countries on various occasions and incited UNSC resolutions; however, these resolutions never went beyond political statements which were the least spontaneous reactions to Israel's brutality in the Middle East. On March 21, 1968, Israel fought the Battle of Karameh by attacking the Karameh district of Jordan, killing 40 to 84 Jordanians and 100 to 200 Palestinians. The massive attacked was followed by UNSC resolution 248 in which the "flagrant violation of the UN Charter" was strongly condemned by all of the UNSC members, even the United States; however, this verbal condemnation was the sole reaction of the Security Council to Israel's violence.
 
In December 1968, Israel Defense Forces raided the Beirut International Airport, destroying 13 civilian airplanes belonging to Lebanon's national flag-carrier Middle East Airlines. The assault was followed by UNSC resolution 262 which condemned Israel once again. The resolution cautioned Israel to retreat from repeating such actions to avoid being punished more severely; however, the further steps never were taken, even when Israel repeated the same criminal actions.
 
In 1985, Israel staged an air raid on Tunisia to target the Palestinian Liberation Organization headquarters in the country. The resolution condemned Israel and demanded that Tel Aviv refrain from further such attacks. It also noted that Tunisia had the right to repatriations considering the loss of life and material damage caused.
 
Having killed thousands of civilians since its creation, the criminal record of Israeli regime is clear to the world and every conscious man testifies that this brutal regime deserves the strongest measures to be taken against.
 
United Nations Security Council never went beyond propagandistic declarations regarding the unlawful and inhuman actions of Tel Aviv, its killing of innocent civilians and violation of international humanitarian law. If it were not the pressure of international community, UNSC even would have not issued these flimsy and ineffective resolutions against Israel.
 
UNSC never passed any resolution to impose sanctions against Israel even though the transgressions and felonies of Israel are so blatant and conspicuous that nobody can deny the claim that Israel is the most violence and vicious regime in the world, an identical and indistinguishable duplicate of the apartheid regime of South Africa.
 
The recent resolution of the Security Council against Iran was a clear exercise of double standards by this prejudiced international body and should be answered by the Islamic Republic of Iran categorically. The hypocritical stance of China and Russia regarding Iran's nuclear program and the astounding accompaniment of independent nations such as Gabon, Nigeria, Uganda, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Mexico with the fallacious, deceptive trajectory of the big 5 leave no room for the continued diplomacy and peaceful interaction by Iran.
 
Iran has so far demonstrated a constructive and productive cooperation with IAEA, G5+1 and European Union, keeping all the doors open for negotiation and reconciliation; however, the time for diplomacy has come to an end. Now that the coalition of superpowers, including China and Russia, have taken a confrontational stance against Iran and want to go through a unilateralistic path, Iran should change its tactic and one of the best solutions it can adopt is to withdraw from IAEA. If Pakistan, India and Israel can enjoy international impunity to develop nuclear weapons simply because they are not IAEA signatories, Iran can have equally the right to progress its peaceful nuclear program by withdrawing from a treaty which had ratified voluntarily.

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