U.S. policy at U.N. hurts prospects for Israeli-Palestinian peace

Full Article. [Source is no longer available. Related links].
Up until the mid-20th century, the time at which nonwhite, non-Western nations could be free, their specific boundaries and the conditions of their independence could only be gained through negotiations between the colonial occupiers and approved representatives of the conquered peoples. It was not the purview of the UN or any other international legal authority to adjudicate such matters, since the rights of those in the colonies were limited to what was willingly agreed to by the colonizers.

Can U.S. Citizens End Israel’s Legal Impunity?

YES! Magazine November 21, 2012. Republished by Baltimore Nonviolence Center, Common Dreams, Transcend.org and Transnational.org: The great wish of the early Zionist leader Theodor Herzl was that Israel would be treated like “any other state.” Were that the case, there might be more rational and productive discourse regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which is particularly critical in light of Israel launching yet another devastating attack against civilian-populated areas.

Interview: On Foreign Policy Debate; Yifat Susskind on Iraq War’s Toxic Legacy (audio)

Counterspin October 26, 2012 [Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting; Zunes’s segment begins at 11 mins.]
The final presidential debate, addressing international issues, managed to promote several falsehoods about U.S. foreign policy. No, the Iranian president never said he wanted Israel “wiped off the map,” and the U.S. did not treat South Africa’s racist apartheid rulers badly…. In other words, the debate was inline with how media and the candidates have treated foreign policy throughout the campaign. Also on CounterSpin today: The toxic legacy of the Iraq War. See also Obama, Romney and the Foreign Policy Debate, Foreign Policy in Focus, 10/23/12.

Embassy Protests and Middle East Unrest in Context

Foreign Policy in Focus/Institute for Policy Studies, September 17, 2012
Republished by: Arthur’s Peace Blog, Eurasia Review, Huffington Post, Middle East Spectator, Transnational.org
It seems bizarre… some media pundits are criticizing Arabs as being “ungrateful” for U.S. support of pro-democracy movements when, in reality, the U.S. initially opposed the popular movements that deposed Western-backed despots in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen, and remains a preeminent backer of dictatorships in the region today…

The Case Against War: Ten Years Later

Foreign Policy In Focus/Institute for Policy Studies, Sept. 11, 2012.
By Stephen Zunes. Republished by: Common Dreams, Transnational.org, The American Bear, and Promised Land Museum.
“Ten years ago, I wrote a series of articles for the Foreign Policy in Focus website, in which I put forth a series of arguments against the Bush administration’s push for a U.S. invasion of Iraq prior to the fateful congressional vote authorizing the illegal, unnecessary, and ultimately disastrous war. At the request of the editors of The Nation – the oldest continually published weekly magazine in the United States – I wrote a version entitled “The Case Against War,” which appeared on their website September 12, 2002, and as the cover story of the September 30 issue. It became one of the most widely circulated articles in the magazine’s 147-year-old history. Every congressional office received multiple copies. In the articles, I correctly predicted that an invasion would result in sectarian violence, terrorism, Islamist extremism, and a bloody counterinsurgency war that would be the most elaborate and expensive deployment of U.S. forces since the Second World War…”

Democratic Leaders Undermine Israeli-Palestinian Peace and Their Own Procedures

Foreign Policy In Focus/Institute for Policy Studies, Sept. 6, 2012.
By Stephen Zunes. Also by Antiwar.com, Reddit and Transnational.org.
In a stunning violation of its own rules, the wishes of the majority of delegates at its national convention, and positions taken by the UN and virtually every other country, Democratic Party leadership pushed through a platform amendment with barely half the delegates present and, allowing for no discussion or debate, stating, Jerusalem “is and will remain the capital of Israel,” and should be “undivided”…

California State Assembly Seeks to Stifle Debate on Israel

Foreign Policy In Focus/Institute for Policy Studies, August 30, 2012. Republished by Huffington Post, Transnational.org, et al. The California State Assembly has just passed a bipartisan resolution (HR 35) by voice vote, which constitutes a serious attack on academic freedom and the rights of students and faculty to raise awareness about human rights abuses by U.S.-backed governments. While purporting to put the legislature on record in opposition to anti-Semitism on state university campuses, it defines anti-Semitism so widely as to include legitimate political activities in opposition to Israeli government policies.

U.S. Shares Responsibility for Rachel Corrie’s Death

Foreign Policy In Focus/Institute for Policy Studies, August 30, 2012. by Stephen Zunes; Republished by Antiwar.com, Common Dreams, Eurasia Review, Transnational.org, and others. On August 28, an Israeli court rejected a civil lawsuit against Israeli occupation forces for the 2003 murder of Rachel Corrie, a 23-year-old American peace activist killed in the Gaza Strip, upholding a severely flawed internal Israeli military investigation. Amnesty International strongly condemned the decision…

Divesting from All Occupations

Foreign Policy In Focus/Institute for Policy Studies July 25, 2012.
Republished by Transnational.org et al.
In response to ongoing violations of international law and basic human rights by the rightist Israeli government of Benyamin Netanyahu in the occupied West Bank and elsewhere, there has been a growing call for divestment of stocks in corporations supporting the occupation… Still, the campaign has scored notable successes…