World opinion is turning against Israel
- By Zhao Jinglun
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E-mail China.org.cn, October 27, 2014
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Pro-Palestinian supporters position a giant banner calling for a recognised Palestinian State, in Parliament Square, central London on October 13, 2014. |
On Oct. 13, the British Parliament voted in favor of recognizing Palestine as a state. The vote was 274 to 12.
Israel took comfort in noting that 90 percent of the ruling Conservative Party members stayed away from the vote, which was non-binding. But a day before the vote, 363 Jewish Israeli citizens called on the British Parliament to adopt the resolution. The signatories included a Nobel Prize laureate, several winners of the highest Israeli civilian award, two former cabinet ministers and four former members of the Knesset, diplomats and a general.
A few days before, Sweden's newly elected leftist prime minister announced that his government was considering recognizing the State of Palestine in the near future.
Both Britain and Sweden were known to be "pro-Israel" and have consistently voted against "anti-Israel" resolutions in the UN.
Their change of heart seems to point to a trend of where world opinion is heading. Let us compare two UN votes:
On Nov. 29, 1947, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution recommending the adoption and implementation of Resolution 181, proposing the partition of Palestine between the Arabs and Jews. The land allocated to the Arab State included about 43 percent of Mandatory Palestine, while 56 percent was given to the Jews, despite the fact that at the time of the partition, the Jews constituted only 33 percent of the population. A survey showed that in Dec. 1945, there were 1,076,780 Muslims, or 58 percent of the population; whereas there were 608,230 Jews, or 33 percent of the population. And there were 145,060 Christians, or 9 percent of the population. The partition was glaringly unfair.
The resolution was passed with a small majority of 33 votes in favor, 13 against and 10 abstentions.
Since the establishment of the Jewish state, Israel has deliberately expanded its territory and pushed the Palestinians out of their land. David Ben-Gurion expelled some 70 percent of the Palestinians from Israel.
