Quote:
Originally posted by Mojo_PeiPei
The U.N. is a joke and we would be smart to stop funding it. Basically we fund 20%+ of the running of it and far more when you consider aid, military presence, and food aid. The sole purpose of the U.N. these days seems to be to counter U.S. policy.
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Maybe that should tell you something. You can't always have it your way all the time.
The US drop out of the UN.
Never in a billion years, it's too handy as a tool of your own foreign policy. Especially when it comes to Israel.
Read the following then tell me the USA doesn't use the UN to its own advantage.
the US has vetoed 30 draft UN resolutions on Israel. Of the numerous resolutions on Israel that were adopted by the UN, especially 242(1967) and 338(1973) which both chart a road to peace, Israel has not complied. The Security Council has been unable to act on these noncompliances due to the US's threat of veto, which creates a double standard, noted in the UN Press Release GA/9793, 20 October 2000. The US has even threatened to withdraw from the UN if Israel were to be suspended for failing to abide by UN resolutions.
Here are some of the more critical draft UN resolutions against Israel that have been vetoed by the US:
S/11940 of 23 January 1976 (9 in favour, U.S. veto, 3 abstentions-Italy, Sweden, UK. China and Libya did not participate.) The U.N. affirms "The right of Palestinian refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours to do so and the right of those choosing not to return to receive compensation for their property" and also "That Israel should withdraw from all the Arab territories occupied since June 1967."
S/12022 of 24 March 1976 (14 in favour, U.S. veto) Noted that the U.N. is "Deeply concerned further at the measures taken by the Israeli authorities leading to the present grave situation including measures aimed at changing the physical, cultural, demographic and religious character of the occupied territories and, in particular, the City of Jerusalem, the establishment of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories and other violations of the human rights of the inhabitants of those territories."
S/14943 of 1 April 1982 (13 in favour, U.S. veto, 1 abstention-Zaire) Noted that the U.N. "Calls on Israel, the occupying Power, to rescind its decision disbanding the elected municipal council of El Bireh and its decision to remove from their posts the Mayors of Nablus and Ramallah."
S/15185 of 8 June 1982 (14 in favour, U.S. veto) Noted the U.N. "Reiterates its demand that Israel withdraw all its military forces forthwith and unconditionally to the internationally recognised boundaries of Lebanon."
S/15347/Rev.1 of 6 August 1982 (11 in favour, U.S. veto, 3 abstentions-Togo, UK, Zaire) Requested that "all the States Members of the United Nations should refrain from supplying Israel with any weapons and from providing it with any military aid until the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from all Lebanese territory."
S/17769 of 29 January 1986 (13 in favour, U.S. veto, 1 abstention-Thailand) Noted that the U.N. "Determines once more that all measures taken by Israel to change the physical character, demographic composition, institutional structure or status of the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967, including Jerusalem, or any part thereof, have no legal validity and that the policy and practices of Israel of settling parts of its population and new immigrants in those territories constitute a flagrant violation of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, of 12 August 1949, and also constitute a serious obstruction to achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East."
S/20945/Rev.1 of 7 November 1989 (14 in favour, U.S. veto) Noted that the U.N. "Strongly deplores those policies and practices of Israel, the occupying Power, which violate the human rights of the Palestinian people in the occupied territory, and in particular the siege of towns, the ransacking of the homes of inhabitants, as has happened at Beit Sahur, and the illegal and arbitrary confiscation of their property and valuables."
S/21326 of 31 May 1990 (14 in favour, U.S. veto) Attempted to establish "a Commission consisting of three members of the Security Council, to be dispatched immediately to examine the situation relating to the policies and practices of Israel, the occupying Power, in the Palestinian territory, including Jerusalem, occupied by Israel since 1967."
S/1997/241 of 21 March 1997 (13 in favour, U.S. veto, 1 abstention-Costa Rica) Noted that the UN "Demands that Israel immediately cease construction of the Jabal Abu Ghneim settlement in East Jerusalem, as well as all other Israeli settlement activities in the occupied territories."
S/2001/270 of 27 March 2001 (9 in favour, U.S. veto, 4 abstentions-France, Ireland, Norway, United Kingdom) Noted "Voting against efforts to establish a United Nations observer force to protect Palestinian civilians, the United States vetoed a draft resolution expressing the Council's readiness to set up such a mechanism."