(New Zealand Herald) Juliet Moses - New Zealand co-sponsored the "anti-settlement" UN resolution with Senegal, Malaysia and Venezuela, hardly bastions of human rights. The resolution declares all the land beyond the 1949 armistice lines "occupied Palestinian territory." That includes east Jerusalem, where Judaism's holiest site, the Temple Mount, as well as the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, are situated. The Security Council has taken away any incentive for the Palestinians to negotiate without preconditions and to accept any less than what they have now been told is theirs. It has ignored that Jews have the best legal claim to the land as the indigenous people, under the League of Nations mandate and as the victor of a defensive war. And it requires Israel to return to suicidal borders, the very ones that led to it being attacked in 1967, with no guarantee of its security. Palestinians should have their self-determination, but not at the expense of the Jewish people's. As a Jewish New Zealander, I feel betrayed by our government. The writer, an Auckland-based lawyer, is a member of the New Zealand Jewish Council.
2017-01-06 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive