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Jerusalem Post Jan. 13, 2005 1:47 | Updated Jan. 13,
2005 4:54
By TOVAH
LAZAROFF AND URIEL HEILMAN
American Jewish groups and terror victims lashed out
Wednesday at the United Nations General Assembly for moving ahead with
the creation of a register to assess damage claims stemming from the
construction of the security fence in the territories.
American Jewish groups and terror victims lashed out
Wednesday at the United Nations General Assembly for moving ahead with
the creation of a register to assess damage claims stemming from the
construction of the security fence in the territories.
"It is wrong and outrageous for the General Assembly to
act on this issue," said Abraham Foxman, national director of the
Anti-Defamation League.
A UN General Assembly anti-Israel resolution passed in
July asked UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to establish a register of
damage caused by the fence's construction for possible future claims and
legal action.
The resolution was based on the advisory opinion issued
last summer by the International Court of Justice at The Hague demanding
the demolition of the barrier in areas beyond the pre-1967 borders.
Foxman said the registry marks the first time that the
General Assembly is acting as an implementing agency.
Typically, anti-Israel resolutions passed by the General
Assembly have no enforcement power unless they are dealt with in the
security council, Foxman said.
"We should not be surprised. Israel always breaks new
ground in the United Nations when it comes to bigotry and prejudice,"
Foxman said.
Annan took the first step Tuesday to create a claims
register by sending a letter to the General Assembly president setting
out a framework for the register and the next steps in its creation.
UN associate spokesman Stephane Dujarric, who announced
that the letter had been sent, did not disclose its contents.
But the UN, in a background note, said the registry's
establishment and operation would require Israeli cooperation, which "we
look forward to."
Anat Friedman, a spokeswoman for Israel's ambassador the
UN Dan Gillerman and the Foreign Ministry, declined to comment, saying
Israel needed more time to study the issue.
But the establishment of the registry for Palestinian
damage claims comes at a time of mostly positive developments for Israel
at the world body. Since a nadir last summer when the ICJ issued its
non-binding ruling that the fence is illegal, Israel has made some
significant gains at the UN.
This fall, Israel managed to get a clause condemning
suicide bombing in one of the many resolutions at the UN condemning
Israel for its action in the Palestinian-populated territories – a move
Arab states previously had succeeded in blocking.
In late November, the General Assembly for the first time
included a reference to anti-Semitism in an annual UN resolution
condemning religious intolerance.
And on Tuesday, the same day that it announced the
creation of the claims registry, the UN also stated that enough members
had joined with Israel and other sponsoring countries to hold a special
session of the General Assembly on January 24 to mark the 60th
anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camps.
In an interview several weeks ago with `The Jerusalem
Post in New York, Gillerman said that given the abysmal history of
UN treatment of Israel in recent decades, "in this environment, even
small changes mean something."
Foxman was less impressed with the UN. The juxtaposition
of the two announcements on Tuesday, the claims registry and the
anti-Semitism session in the General Assembly shows that "the world is
willing to talk about Jews in trouble and in pain, but it is not willing
to tolerate Jews who are alive and who stand up for their principles,"
said Foxman.
Arnold Roth,
whose daughter Malka, 15, was killed in a suicide bombing in the Sbarro
restaurant in Jerusalem in 2001, said he was troubled by the lack of
context in the General Assembly's move.
"Anyone who pays attention to Israel's position on the
security fence knows that the price paid by the Palestinian Arabs is
well understood. You can't ignore that land has been taken from farmers.
Access roads have been blocked. Travel times have gotten longer," said
Roth.
"For Israelis, like my family, who have personally
experienced terrorism in the hardest possible way, we know this story
has a context. Israelis – particularly Israeli children – are being
murdered. The numbers of damaged families would have been far greater if
Israel had not taken defensive measures.
"I don't know of any theory of democracy that views
things differently," said Roth.
"The leaders of the UN prefer not to turn their minds to
what would happen without an Israeli security fence. That's their
privilege. But our concern for the lives of our children forces Israeli
society to take a much more balanced – I would say a more honest and
mature – approach. This is not the UN's finest hour," he said.
The absence of a similar examination of the cost of
terror "renders the whole debate useless," said Roth.
The registry office, as envisioned by Annan, would be
based in Palestinian territory "so that it will be close to the people
who will be submitting their damage claims for inclusion in the
register," the note said.
Details on staffing, size and cost remain to be worked
out, but Annan proposed that the registry office be financed from
contributions by all 191 UN member states.
The board that will oversee the register will determine
how damage claims should be submitted, and all information will be made
public, the UN note said.
"The purpose of the register is not to adjudicate claims
of damage but to collect them for possible future adjudication and
compensation," it said, adding that a future compensation mechanism
would be responsible for deciding on the legitimacy of claims and
putting a value on them.
The UN said the delay in announcing the framework for the
register was due to time consuming consultation and review by the UN
legal and political departments.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. |
