I received this e-mail from a producer working on the United Nations deliberations on Israel’s destructive invasion of Gaza. This account of the main international institution’s political assembly and the Arab diplomats operating within their confines was as amusing as it was frustrating.

It will make you laugh and make you cry when you consider Gaza is burning while they negotiate and posture amongst each other:

sadly i’ve been in new york the last few days with a front row seat to what is arguably the MOST USELESS GATHERING OF INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATS EVER. it’s amazing to me how we all preach about war crimes and international human rights law when we all know that the united nations is completely defunct – getting bogged down in semantic arguments that 1) they rarely ever agree upon and 2) don’t matter anyway because israel will continue to do whatever the fuck it wants.

most shameful of all are the arab league member states – each having sent massive entourages to new york to essentially sit around in the basement of the UN and smoke cigarettes all day long – and who by all accounts are just bickering among themselves over who gets to take credit for the draft resolution that makes it to a vote (and eventual veto…) in the security council. to me it’s all a complete distraction. not to mention the absurdity of abbas thinking he can negotiate on hamas’ behalf. if i hear one more foreign minister praise him as the ‘legitimate’ president of the palestinian people i’m going to be sick.

these idiots are our last best hope??? as much as i love the new skewer on the website, i’m afraid international justice is dead.

I personally would not make as harsh a judgment about the potential of international institutions, but I certainly can understand the sentiments. I see these bodies as a work in progress and predict international convergence is a matter of time — that does not mean international justice will ever result. Justice even within a country is beyond our grasp.

Also, this is not to disparage those UN employees who work on tangible projects, such as humanitarian aide and development work. Many of them do wonderful services to people around the world. This is commentary on the political bodies and the member-states.

Related posts:

1. Al Jazeera Reports: Gaza Power Shutdown
2. Gaza Protests Around the United States
3. War Scoreboard Part III: Palestine, The United States, And Its Puppets
4. First Iraqi WMD Found — in New York!
5. Finkelstein: Israel at War With International Community