[Salon] John Whitbeck's remarks to the EMERGENCY LONDON CONFERENCE OF GLOBAL INTELLECTUALS OF CONSCIENCE ON JANUARY 27, 2024 TO STOP GENOCIDE IN GAZA - micheletkearney@gmail.com - Gmail

[Salon] John Whitbeck's remarks to the EMERGENCY LONDON CONFERENCE OF GLOBAL INTELLECTUALS OF CONSCIENCE ON JANUARY 27, 2024 TO STOP GENOCIDE IN GAZA - micheletkearney@gmail.com - Gmail REMARKS TO THE EMERGENCY CONFERENCE OF GLOBAL INTELLECTUALS OF CONSCIENCE AGAINST GENOCIDE – LONDON, JANUARY 27, 2024 I recognize that it may seem indecent to suggest that there could be a silver lining in a genocide. The ongoing genocide is horrific, and every conceivable effort should be exerted to bring it to a prompt end. However, concerned people of conscience should also be thinking now of both creative and practical ways by which the outrage and disgust of most of mankind could be constructively built upon to advance the cause of peace with some measure of justice. The international lawyer and historian John McHugo has recently written: “Paradoxically, the atrocities of 7 October and their grim aftermath might bring something like a settlement of the Israel/Palestine question closer -- if only because they are forcing the international community to focus its attention on the need to reach a peace which reflects justice.” I agree. Before October 7, the Question of Palestine had virtually dropped off the world’s radar. Most Israelis assumed that the status quo -- a perpetual occupation and an effective apartheid one-state reality -- was both sustainable and the best of all possible worlds for them. The Palestinians still living in Palestine appeared resigned to their fate and their oppression or incapable of doing anything to change it or both. The events which commenced on October 7 have constituted a wake- up call to the world and have wrought a transformational change, restoring Palestine to the front and center of the world’s consciousness and causing people throughout the world who had not previously given much or any thought to Palestine to become aware of the massive injustices inflicted on the Palestinian people not just recently but over the past century. The manifestations of solidarity with the Palestinian people throughout the Global South and, particularly among young people and people of color, even in Western countries have been hugely encouraging, not just for the Palestinian people but for humanity as a whole. This transformational change offers opportunities which can and must be built upon. I will briefly mention two significant opportunities to build upon this surge of consciousness and solidarity. While It was disappointing that the International Court of Justice did not explicitly order an immediate ceasefire, in all other respects the court’s near-unanimous decision was highly positive. Indeed, the court did order Israel to take all measures within its power to prevent the killing or the causing of serious bodily or mental harm to Palestinians in Gaza -- an order impossible to comply with without ceasing fire. While ICJ orders are binding and non-appealable, it is clear that Israel will ignore the ICJ’s order, as it has ignored the court’s near-unanimous 2004 opinion on the illegality of the Apartheid Wall and all “binding” and “non-binding” UN resolutions against it. However, it will be extremely awkward for the governments of the United States, the United Kingdom and other Western countries to defy a “binding” order of the world’s highest judicial authority by continuing to support, militarily, financially and diplomatically, Israel’s genocidal assault against the people of Gaza. Some member of the UN Security Council (most likely Algeria, the new non-permanent member representing the Arab world since January 1) should promptly introduce a resolution demanding that all states comply with the ICJ’s order and not provide any form of support to any state not complying with the order. If the United States were to veto such a resolution, it would be reconfirming that the subservience of its political class to Israeli domination and control has reduced the United States to the status, like Israel, of an outlaw, rogue and virtually pariah state. Even President Biden might hesitate to publicly declare such blatant contempt for the rule of law. Whatever choice the U.S. government makes, law-abiding governments with humane principles, encouraged by their own people, should then apply sanctions, embargoes and boycotts consistent with the Genocide Convention’s requirements and the court’s order. In addition, President Biden and spokespeople for his administration have been insisting on an almost daily basis that a “two-state solution” is the only “solution” and one that is very much in the interests of Israelis, while the European Union and individual European states have been following the American lead and climbing, at least rhetorically, aboard the “two-state solution” bandwagon. The only way to test whether President Biden is now sincere and serious about actually achieving a “two-state solution” is for the State of Palestine to apply to the UN Security Council for a status upgrade from observer state to full member state and thereby to challenge the U.S. government to demonstrate its sincerity and seriousness by not vetoing Palestine’s application. -- indeed, better yet, by voting in favor of the application and itself joining the 139 other states, encompassing the vast majority of mankind, which have already extended diplomatic recognition to the State of Palestine. In the current circumstances and in the context of current American rhetoric, a decision to veto Palestinian statehood would be an act of profound self-harm and self-humiliation that would make the United States look ridiculous. UN member state status would not be purely symbolic. The occupation of the entire territory of a UN member state by another UN member state could not be permitted to continue indefinitely and without consequences. The writing would be well and truly on the wall. The Palestinian leadership in Ramallah should seize this unprecedented but time-sensitive opportunity to transform the current two-state legality in international law into a two-state reality on the ground. For more than 100 days, the Palestinian people have been paying an unimaginably high price to produce transformational change toward some measure of justice. All people of conscience should do whatever the