Excerpts from recent editorials in newspapers in the United States and abroad:
The Australian on the vote on enhanced status for the Palestinian Authority:
Former foreign minister Gareth Evans’s claims about dire consequences for Australia had we voted against enhanced status for the Palestinian Authority at the U.N. in November 2012 are overblown.
At the launch of Bob Carr’s Diary of a Foreign Minister, Evans claimed that if Julia Gillard had not been rolled on the issue Australia would have suffered from the worst foreign policy decision in a generation.
A “no” vote against observer status for the Palestinians, he said, would have isolated us “from every friend we had in the world apart from the U.S. and Israel” and “mortally wounded our credibility and effectiveness on the U.N. Security Council”.
Like Carr, Evans is no slouch when it comes to self-belief. But there is nothing to support his hyperbole. The U.S. voted no and has not suffered the opprobrium Evans outlined. Palestinian leaders have continued close contacts with the Obama administration, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas again in the Oval Office last month. Canada, a close ally of Australia, also voted no and has suffered no retaliation.
Almost 18 months on, Carr’s intervention to block the no vote looks no better informed. The case against the U.N. resolution was that it would do nothing to enhance negotiations for a two-state solution and foster the delusion that the Palestinians can win statehood through the back door via a U.N. vote rather than talking with Israel. The vote was a con. After all the grand pronouncements, it has not improved the lot of the Palestinians.
Wisely, Carr’s successor Julie Bishop has signaled Australia will now follow a different course. Her pledge not to support any more ill-conceived UN resolutions will better serve Australia’s interests than Carr’s grandstanding.
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