That’s pretty unbelievable. Nothing like making a bad situation worse.

but didnt u know- that was the entire idea. Having a war free world makes for no economic growth. U need to destroy 1st to rebuild later. take care.

I agree with the gist of your post.

But what “major compromise” is Israel making?? Moving out of land that was never theirs in the first place and they had no business to be in ??

Aaaaargh !!

I wrote the earlier comment before following the link to the source.

The New York Sun is the biggest pro-Israel newspaper west of Tel Aviv. The paper’s basic purpose is to provide journalistic “real estate” to hate Palestinia and pro-israel voices. Its a tabloid in content terms and rates with the New York Daily News and the New York Press as one of the trash newspapers in the city.

If you read the article you see how it is doctored to make circumstantial evidence appear as doctrinated gospel.

You are just being sensationalist - it says very clearly that the UN only handed out the funds - it was up to the Palestinians to decide how to spend it. If they spent it on childish taunts that is their problems.

This is the kind of logic that implies “US funds terrorists in Cuba” just because they provide funding for anti-Castro elements in Miami.

Arzan, Israel is compromising by making a move that could make it seem like they are bowing down to pressure. They are taking a risk, by following up on their peace promise and taking the first step towards a peace process.

As far as the land is concerned, it isn’t like Jews were non-existent in the land before Israel - Israel also won the land fair and square form Egypt (IIRC). I haven’t seen too many countries give up easily lands they have conquered and settled in (see, China, Pakistan).

Arzan and Ck, the money UN is spending is not coming from some secret coffers, but from money our respective governments send in. Just as a I have a right to demand accountability from the government as a taxpayer, I should have a right to demand that the UN oversee who they are funding and what the funds are being allocated for, since it is ultimately my money they are spending.

The UN needs responsibility for who they fund and how the funds are managed. I don’t really have much respect or expectations from the UN after what they let Saddam get away with during the oil-for-food deal, but they should atleast be diligent enough to not fund hate in an already volatile region.

Shanti

There was no country of israel till 1945. Palestine has been there since biblical times. At least 2000 years. The British screwed the Palestinians the same way they did us Indians, by partitioning our lands before they left us. If they had not acceded to the whole notion of forcefully creating a nation out of another, the whole Israel Palestinian issue would not arise. Egypt, etc came much later in 1967.

As regards the money…i think CK is right. The money was given to the Palestinians. All the same I agree with the crux of your post which talks about accountability. It speaks badly of the Palestinians to indulge in such immaturity.

All the same, I would like to know your comments on the New York Sun newspaper. Its super trash, and I am surprised, that you based your whole post on their legitemacy.

Arzan, per the Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_ancient_Israel_and_Judah) the land was actually called “Judea” and was home to Jews who were conquered by the Romans and had their lands renamed, so we cannot conveniently go only as far as you are interested into history :)

The UN is definitely responsible for how the money they are pouring into a state is handled.

As for the NYSun, I really don’t care much about newspapers of any kind these days. I do base my post on the article since it had actual quotes from the UN guys admitting that at the minimum they paid some money to the Palestinians and that money ended up being used in a wrong way.

No you do not have a right to demand accountability. It would be nice to have that right but it does not exist today. One of the first tenants of taxation (I’m not supporting this - but its just the way it is) is that there is no quid pro quo. You can’t make your 8% tax payment and then ask the government exactly how your money is being spent and demand that they use that money to put up a street light outside your house. You give it to the government and hope they put it to good use or as the officials you elected want to use it. If you don’t like it, you can vote the officials out of office and elect ones that will put up a street light.

Sad but that is how taxation works. A bit much for you to get up in arms because your government contributes to the UN which in turn has programs in other countries which is turn make allocations of money to an organization within that country.

Your government has agreed to be a member of the UN which is involved in other countries. I am sure that similarly a bible-belt preacher from Kansas does not want his money going to the UN Program to combat AIDS in Africa as he feels that it is the will of God and punishment for peoples sinful ways. Thankfully neither he nor you have the right to dictate exactly how their money will be used. That is the price you both pay for agreeing to live in the US.

Ck, I do have the right to demand accountability just on account of being a citizen of a country (India) that is part of the UN. That doesn’t mean the UN has a duty to listen to me. Sure, we can pretend the UN is super-global organization that is not answerable to anyone but rather everybody else is answerable to the body, but that would just be ignoring the reality. If the UN is to represent us, they need to justify themselves to us. Otherwise, they are dangerously close to becoming irrelevant.

Wikipedia is an open source encyclopedia. I can go and change the entry to suit what i think it should be. At best Wikipedia is just a reference to give a larger picture.

If you research more you will find that the palestinians have always been living in this one place. If the jews were living, eons ago, and then for some reason, were kicked out, or left, maybe true. But the operating keyword is “were”.

The Palestinians are still there. They never left. They were always there. In that case, why should the Israelis come in and snatch Palestinian lands ??

And a simple “Palestine” search on Wikipedia will give you a brief idea of the history of the land. I am surprised that you would search for ancient Israel but not Palestine. Here is the link.

It is shocking that the US gives $ 5 Billion in grant every year to Israel, and turns a blind eye to their exploitation of Palestinians who are a poor people with little resources, but a lot of courage and guts.

If the US had in 1945, not supported the UN Mandate to create Israel, it would have never become a nation. That was how world politics was then. And the only reason USA said yes was because of the pro Jewish lobby in the US and the after effects of the Holocaust atrocities that were coming out of Europe.

Even if you ask the Indian Govt…or any Govt for that matter to be accountable for your tax money, they are not going to be and the only option you have is to vote with your feet (move to a country which you feel is more accountable) or vote with your ballot (but in all liklihood the next guy is not going to be provide you with a Re by Re account of you tak Rs.).

When your own government is not accountable to you, why this sudden expectation that an organization your government happens to be a part of is going to give you a detailed account of how they spend your government’s contributions.

UN was designed to be used as an emergency brake against wars.

It was not designed to creat diversity, tolerance and harmony.

There are serious bugs in its Kernel.

Thank you for drawing attention to this, Shanti.

I think the point is that this is emblematic of a systemic UN problem: That they distribute the money but take no responsibility for accounting for its use afterward, especially in the PA, where accounting and enforcement of rules has been non-existent anyway.

UN money paid for propaganda today. Was it winding up in the pockets of Hamas and Islamic Jihad the day before? Of course!

Arzan, I was only responding to the fact that the Jews didn’t belong in the area. They were there since a long time and there is no peace unless every party accepts the fact that the other party is not going away.

Ck, by that token no one outside the US is allowed to criticize the US since they don’t have any right to affect a change in the US government or policy?

Sumanth and Solomon, I totally agree.

Ah come on Shanti. Accountability is one thing, criticism is quite another. What Ck is saying is you can’t really expect any government to give you a blow by blow account of all the taxes you have been paying. Whoever said taxation was a means to achieve a particular objective? Its towards overall development (or corruption, depending on where you live). You can criticize all you want until you get blue in the face — who is stopping you? You are just barking up the wrong tree if you think you can audit entities like the UN.

Dilip, I am saying that any and every entity should be auditable. Whether it is possible or not or if it achieves anything is definitely debatable. The Oil-for-food scam game itself should solidify the our resolution to make the UN accountable for what it does. As a global organization, they ought to be more transparent and set an example than even the governments that support them.

I started writing a lengthy response but realized half-way that these points would’ve been beaten to death by now considering the Oil-For-Work scandal is quite stale by now. This post captures quite nicely what I think:
http://www.theglitteringeye.com/archives/000079.html

That was a very good post you pointed to, Dilip. I think it makes a lot of sense. I am not saying that the UN is prosecutable for what they did or what they are doing. I seriously believe that the UN in its present incarnation is pretty worthless and there needs to be some reform within the organization before it serves any purpose to the world in general. It is this reform that can be forced if not action for what has already been done.