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Purveyor

(29,876 posts)
Thu Jul 31, 2014, 02:47 PM Jul 2014

The BRICS and Israel-Palestine Conflict

Even as Israeli jets pounded Gaza and Hamas rockets targeted Israeli cities, the sixth BRICS summit was underway in Fortaleza in Brazil. As the six leaders of the ‘emerging economies’ – Brazil’s Dilma Roussef, Russia’s Vladimir Putin, India’s Narendra Modi, China’s Xi Jinping, and South Africa’s Jacob Zuma – inaugurated the new BRICS Development Bank, considered to be a counter to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, Israel’s Iron Dome defense system was intercepting missiles aimed from Gaza. Now with the launch of a land offensive by Israel’s Defense Forces, 54 Israelis are dead while the death toll in Gaza – at the time of writing – stands at more than 1500, together with great damage and loss of property.

This latest escalation in the region reflects, inter-alia, the slow but steady militarization of Hamas. The Middle East is already in the grip of the insanity of the Syrian war, the Shia-Sunni conflagration in Iraq, and the larger proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. In many ways the festering Israel-Palestine conflict lies at the heart of all the conflicts in the region. This protracted conflict with its increasingly heavy toll of life and property, which all acknowledge has no military options, only political ones, is a reflection of the failure of the international community to sort it out, and it is spilling into South Asia and the BRICS countries. In Kashmir, for instance, a teenager was killed in a scuffle with the police while staging anti-Israel and pro-Gaza protests.

This is an opportune time for the BRICS countries to take up this issue. The BRICS at its recently concluded Fortaleza summit declaration has called for: ‘Israel and Palestine to resume negotiations leading to a two-State solution with a contiguous and economically viable Palestinian State existing side by side in peace with Israel, within mutually agreed and internationally recognized borders based on the 4 June 1967 lines, with East Jerusalem as its capital. We oppose the continuous construction and expansion of settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories by the Israeli Government, which violates international law, gravely undermines peace efforts and threatens the viability of the two-State solution.’

The time has now come for the BRICS to move beyond statements and take on a more proactive role and pursue a more robust policy for the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The BRICS did vote for the UN Human Rights Council for an investigation in possible Israeli war crimes in Gaza but that may not amount to much if Israel does not cooperate. There are also allegations that it is one-sided. State Department deputy spokesperson Marie Harf told reports that the US opposed the UNHRC resolution on Gaza, saying that it was “the latest in a series of biased, anti-Israel actions at the Human Rights Council.”

The BRICS bloc prides itself as offering a new world order which will be more inclusive. While Russia and China are permanent members of the UN Security Council, India, Brazil and South Africa are seeking permanent membership for themselves through reforms in the council. Representing 40% of the world’s population, 20% of its GDP, and 17% of its global trade, the BRICS collectively has certain leverage with either side of the conflict, which may not be available to an individual member-state. At the same time, each member state has good bilateral relations with both the Israelis and the Palestinians – a prime requirement to be perceived as honest peace brokers.

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http://thewip.net/2014/07/31/the-brics-and-israel-palestine-conflict-2/

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The BRICS and Israel-Palestine Conflict (Original Post) Purveyor Jul 2014 OP
Ironic isn't it. Wellstone ruled Jul 2014 #1
do you have links for gas in Gaza and Golan? yurbud Aug 2014 #2
 

Wellstone ruled

(34,661 posts)
1. Ironic isn't it.
Thu Jul 31, 2014, 03:18 PM
Jul 2014

Some one posted a correlation to these factors last week or the week before. BRIC Bank=plane shoot down horse collar Puntin,BiBi sees opportunity with world distraction to whipe out the Palestinians and take their land and the billions of cubic feet of natural gas under it. BTW,did anyone notice a posting lately about the Cheney-Rothchild connected firm drilling wells in the Golan Heights. Wake up folks,this is a 1%er move here,they feel threatened. Cannon Fodder!!!

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