Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman are allowed to celebrate victory for the third time in a few weeks. The first time was when the US administration retracted its request for them to stop the settlement activities as a condition to resume negotiations with the Palestinians. The second time was when Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas retracted the same condition to meet with Netanyahu under the auspices of President Barack Obama. As for the third time, it was when the Israeli officials scored an unprecedented victory in the United Nations, which Arabs regard as their court. Even when Washington practiced its right to veto any decision in the Security Council, the issue was referred to the General Assembly where the majority supports the Palestinian cause. Israel has always fought the international organization and its institutions, especially in the Human Rights Council in Geneva. Netanyahu's recent victory is the most important one, one that he snatched from the advocates of the cause themselves without any war or efforts. According to available information (including Palestinian sources), they requested the postponement of the voting over the report of Richard Goldstone who accuses the Israeli Army of committing war crimes during the Israeli aggression on Gaza, in return for allowing some critics to establish a cell phone company, i.e. accepting a bribe to abandon a right secured by the international law. Abbas justified the postponement by saying that it was "with the knowledge and consent of the Arab states" and this confirms that he already knew about the issue, although he also said that the Palestinian Liberation Organization is not a member in the Security Council and is not entitled to make this request. It also implies that he was exposed to Arab pressures, in addition to American ones, so he does not object, although he has the right to do so. However, he has abstained from objecting thanks to these pressures. Forming a committee to investigate the "circumstances of the decision" is an acknowledgement of the mistake and a mere confirmation that he already knew about the postponement and did not object to it. Resorting to international legitimacy was the last Palestinian and Arab card in the face of Israel, after most of them abandoned the other cards and regarded the October 1973 events as being the last Israeli-Arab wars, while those that Israel waged afterwards were in self-defense. They started to look, with Washington's assistance, for an enemy among us until they found it in the resistance which has become "terrorism", in the hope of entering this era through surrendering to the Israeli conditions: abandoning the land, accepting the settlements, judaizing Jerusalem, and establishing a Palestinian entity whose only concern is to cancel the right of return and preserve Israel's security. Disappointing the Human Rights Council and the pro-Palestinian international organizations by requesting to postpone the voting on the Gaza report or not objecting to it implies disappointing ourselves and is a serious indicator that we have abandoned the international legitimacy and that it has abandoned us as well, because according to the French envoy in the council, others cannot be pro-Palestinians more than the Palestinians themselves. There is no justification from now on for Israel's apprehension over the prosecution of its criminal officials and criminals in The Hague or in any European country, on charges of genocide or war crimes. They can obtain the immunity they enjoy whenever they want, either by American pressures or "Arab knowledge" according to Abbas. After all, weakness, submissiveness and getting used to defeats are key titled to justify minor and major issues. * Al-Hayat 06/10/2009
