Former Ambassador Alan Baker, the director of the Institute for Contemporary Affairs at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, spoke to Arutz Sheva on Tuesday following the participation of the UN’s Middle East envoy, Nickolay Mladenov, at a rally against sovereignty organized by the Palestinian Authority (PA).
"A senior United Nations official who participates in a rally violates the procedural provisions of the organization which he represents and is in breach of the UN Charter which requires impartiality and neutrality. I hope our Foreign Ministry and UN Mission will contact the Secretary General and seek clarification on this move, which is unacceptable,” said Baker.
The vocal opposition to the sovereignty move should not be surprising, continued Baker. "Obviously they do not like Trump and when his name is at the forefront of this plan it annoys them even more. The European Foreign Minister is known to be hostile to Israel even when he was Spain's Foreign Minister. As far as we’re concerned, there’s nothing here.”
"The approach has always been hostile to Israel and since Trump was sworn in as President he has also been added to this hostility. It should be noted that the Trump plan is meant to be implemented in coordination with the Palestinians and not unilaterally.
Meanwhile, they are talking about the possibility of unilateral application of Israeli law and Israeli sovereignty, but the question is when and if they will do it and whether they will have to wait for the Palestinians to join the move as well,” he said.
The world was being hypocritical when it said it was not taking sides but then proceeded to support the Palestinian Authority’s position, added Baker. "The Palestinians have been given the opportunity to enter the negotiation process and according to the Trump plan, they are supposed to have their own sovereign state in a very large percentage of the territories. If they eventually refuse to come, then we can go to the international community and say: We waited for them, the Palestinians did not come, so we have the opportunity to act in our interests and take unilateral steps as we see fit."
"The international community has always been hostile to everything Israel has done, so we don’t have to be unnerved by it. I'm unfazed by their threats. They have economic and other interests and a desire to maintain relations with us. Political statements and political threats need to be separated from real happenings and in the meantime, nothing happens and has not happened," he concluded.
