Dawn Breaker's Reflections

Nasser Al-Kidwa, the Palestinians' U.N. observer , left, speaks to another diplomat while negotiating a vote during the tenth emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly on illegal Israeli actions in occupied East Jerusalem and the rest of the occupied Palestinian territory Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2003, at the United Nations in New York. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)-Copyright © 2003, The Associated Press

After many hours of negotiation between European Union and Palestinian, Arab and Islamic nation ambassadors at the tenth emergency U.N. General Assembly meeting this year, a final resolution was overwhelmingly passed (144-4-12) condemning the erection of the Israeli barrier dividing Israel from Palestine, and calling for the demolition of what has been built thus far of the divider wall which passes through some Palestinian villages. Among the four dissenters were Israel and the United States.

An amendment to the resolution will also condemn the Palestinian suicide attacks in Israel as well as the recent Israeli air raids on Syria and the October 16 ambush of a U.S. diplomatic convoy moving through a Palestinian compound. The General Assembly resolution also calls for Kofi Annan, secretary-general of the U.N., to periodically review Israel's compliance, and declares that "further actions should be considered, if necessary, within the United Nations system."

U.N. General Assembly Resolutions are not currently legally binding as are those of the much smaller U.N. Security Council. An earlier Security Council resolution calling for the dismantling of the Israeli barrier and its declaration of illegality was vetoed by the United States. Palestine, Arab and Islamic nations threatened to push for a second General Assembly resolution that would take the Israeli Barrier case before the World Court at the Hague in the Netherlands and ask for counsel on the legality of such construction, but dropped this resolution in exchange for support from the E.U. to pass the first resolution.

With such overwhelming democratic votes taking place recently in the U.N. General Assembly that diametrically oppose decisions or vetoed decisions made by the U.N. Security Council, one can only wonder how long it will take U.N. leadership to recognize the relative obsolescence of the Security Council's decision-making process and the harmfulness of veto powers granted to its permanent seatholder nations, and grant binding legislative authority to its universal body of representatives, the General Assembly.

A handover of binding international legislative power from the U.N. Security Council to the U.N. General Assembly would most certainly be viewed as a threat to national sovereignty by the permanent seatholders of the Security Council (these nations do not have veto power in the General Assembly, and have a single vote as do all other nations), but would be a necessary step to ensure the collective security and well-being of all nations. Because the permanent seatholders of the U.N. Security Council hold the reins of power, they will most certainly try to resist this transition, but persistent public outcries and calls for U.N. reform from the collective voice of the non-permanent seatholder nations, together with the pressure exerted upon the Security council by the overwhelming social, economic and environmental disasters they are held responsible for not solving or addressing will eventually lead, in my humble opinion, to a handover of power to the General Assembly, who will most probably be more universally recognized, trusted and obeyed as a legislative body due to its more democratic nature and its universal, equal membership.

As long as veto power in the Security Council is kept by a handful of nations (the victors of World War II) over the decisions and requests of the nations of the entire planet, there will be suspicion of, contempt and disregard for, and non-compliance with U.N. Security Council Resolutions, no matter how legal and binding these are considered to be by nations holding the reins of power. How long will the U.N. Security Council continue to ignore the outcries of the overwhelming majority of nations of the world?

Rather than continue with my opinionated statements, I would like to quote much more authoritative and eloquent Sources, namely Baha'u'llah, Who nearly a century and a half ago foresaw the social illnesses and calamities that would encompass humanity in a future global society and beforehand provided the healing balm and solution for these, and Shoghi Effendi, His great-grandson, who so eloquently expounded upon the blueprint for a new global society free of such illnesses that his great-grandfather envisioned:

"The well-being of mankind, its peace and security, are unattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established."

(Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 286)


"The unity of the human race, as envisaged by Baha'u'llah, implies the establishment of a world commonwealth in which all nations, races, creeds and classes are closely and permanently united, and in which the autonomy of its state members and the personal freedom and initiative of the individuals that compose them are definitely and completely safeguarded. This commonwealth must, as far as we can visualize it, consist of a world legislature, whose members will, as the trustees of the whole of mankind, ultimately control the entire resources of all the component nations, and will enact such laws as shall be required to regulate the life, satisfy the needs and adjust the relationships of all races and peoples. A world executive, backed by an international Force, will carry out the decisions arrived at, and apply the laws enacted by, this world legislature, and will safeguard the organic unity of the whole commonwealth. A world tribunal will adjudicate and deliver its compulsory and final verdict in all and any disputes that may arise between the various elements constituting this universal system. A mechanism of world inter-communication will be devised, embracing the whole planet, freed from national hindrances and restrictions, and functioning with marvellous swiftness and perfect regularity. A world metropolis will act as the nerve center of a world civilization, the focus towards which the unifying forces of life will converge and from which its energizing influences will radiate. A world language will either be invented or chosen from among the existing languages and will be taught in the schools of all the federated nations as an auxiliary to their mother tongue. A world script, a world literature, a uniform and universal system of currency, of weights and measures, will simplify and facilitate intercourse and understanding among the nations and races of mankind. In such a world society, science and religion, the two most potent forces in human life, will be reconciled, will cooperate, and will harmoniously develop. The press will, under such a system, while giving full scope to the expression of the diversified views and convictions of mankind, cease to be mischievously manipulated by vested interests, whether private or public, and will be liberated from the influence of contending governments and peoples. The economic resources of the world will be organized, its sources of raw materials will be tapped and fully utilized, its markets will be coordinated and developed, and the distribution of its products will be equitably regulated.

National rivalries, hatreds, and intrigues will cease, and racial animosity and prejudice will be replaced by racial amity, understanding and cooperation. The causes of religious strife will be permanently removed, economic barriers and restrictions will be completely abolished, and the inordinate distinction between classes will be obliterated. Destitution on the one hand, and gross accumulation of ownership on the other, will disappear. The enormous energy dissipated and wasted on war, whether economic or political, will be consecrated to such ends as will extend the range of human inventions and technical development, to the increase of the productivity of mankind, to the extermination of disease, to the extension of scientific research, to the raising of the standard of physical health, to the sharpening and refinement of the human brain, to the exploitation of the unused and unsuspected resources of the planet, to the prolongation of human life, and to the furtherance of any other agency that can stimulate the intellectual, the moral, and spiritual life of the entire human race.

A world federal system, ruling the whole earth and exercising unchallengeable authority over its unimaginably vast resources, blending and embodying the ideals of both the East and the West, liberated from the curse of war and its miseries, and bent on the exploitation of all the available sources of energy on the surface of the planet, a system in which Force is made the servant of Justice, whose life is sustained by its universal recognition of one God and by its allegiance to one common Revelation -- such is the goal towards which humanity, impelled by the unifying forces of life, is moving."

(Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Baha'u'llah, p. 204)

With this powerful quote of Shoghi Effendi ends today's post. It has been a relatively long time since the previous post; this servant was quite occupied with the "Blazon His Name" initiative in these past few weeks. Peace and blessings galore.