[R-G] Venezuela's Support for Palestine: A model for third world diplomacy

[Anthony Fenton]

Venezuela's Support for Palestine: A model for third world diplomacy

September 24, 2008 By Nikhil Shah
http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/18902

At a time, when the international community has turned a blind eye to  
Israel's crimes towards the Palestinians, Venezuela has been one of  
the few nations who has the courage to openly condemn Israel for its  
crimes and express support for the Palestinian people. Most members of  
the non-aligned movement professed support for the Palestinian cause  
during the cold war and severed relations with Israel as they saw the  
Palestinian struggle as part of the same anti colonial struggle that  
they were a part of.  Other commentators have stated that the non- 
aligned support for the Palestinian cause was not formed out of any  
genuine concern for the Palestinian people but as a way to align their  
foreign policy to that of the former Soviet Union for strategic  
purposes or to gather favor from several oil producing Arab nations  
for their development.

After the U.S. imposed Oslo Peace Process began in the early 90's, the  
international community eagerly resumed diplomatic ties with Israel  
and immediately started a process of military and technological  
cooperation with them.  May of these nations such as India and China  
had admired Israel as a nation that was technologically and militarily  
advanced and desired to have Israel share its expertise in these areas  
with them.[1] This build up of military cooperation and trade made  
many nations change their policy on criticizing Israel. These members  
of the international community turned a blind eye to Israel's  
practices towards the Palestinians in the years that followed,  
including a continued displacement of Palestinians, an increase in  
illegal Jewish settlements, continued expropriation of Palestinian  
lands, political assassinations, torture, discrimination against non- 
Jewish residents, and sabotaging the rights of Palestinian refugees  
displaced by the 1948 Al Nakba genocide.  Even after the outbreak of  
the second intifada, the international community refrained from  
holding Israel accountable for genocidal policies imposed on the  
Palestinians such as the forced starvation and economic devastation of  
over 1.5 million residents in Gaza or for the war crimes it committed  
during their illegal invasion of Lebanon in 2006. Occasional criticism  
or concerns would be expressed about Israel's actions but nation- 
states would refrain from severing diplomatic ties or holding Israel  
legally accountable for their crimes.

One exception to this diplomatic capitulation to Israel has been  
Venezuela under the leadership of President Hugo Chavez.  Chavez has  
been outspoken in his criticism of Israeli policies and has undertaken  
and proposed steps to hold Israel accountable for their actions.   
Venezuela, like many other Latin American countries traditionally had  
friendly diplomatic relations with Israel. Since its existence, Israel  
has maintained military relations with right wing regimes in Latin  
America including Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Columbia, Costa Rica,  
Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras,  
Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Venezuela.  Israel has also been  
active in supporting several right-wing counterinsurgency groups in  
Latin America (acting as a proxy for the U.S.) with weapons, advice  
and training in their fight with leftist governments.

Chavez, however broke with this tradition when he announced in 2006  
that he was withdrawing his senior diplomat from Israel in response to  
their invasion of Lebanon.[2] Chavez chose to take this course not  
because of any action Israel had taken against Venezuela, but because  
of Israel's treatment towards Palestinian and Lebanese civilians.[3]  
Chavez publically compared Israel's actions towards Palestinians and  
Lebanese to the holocaust stating that "Israel is doing what Hitler  
did, killing innocent children and entire families." [4] Chavez went  
on to stop Venezuela from issuing tourist visas to Israelis and during  
a trip to Beijing called for Israel to be tried for genocide before  
the International Criminal Court.[5]  Chavez also visited Syria and  
made a joint statement with the Syrian government calling on Israel to  
end its illegal occupation of the Golan Heights, abide by UN  
resolutions and for an end to double standards towards Israel  
internationally.[6] Chavez also sent a Boeing 707 with 20,000 tons of  
humanitarian aid to help alleviate the humanitarian crisis caused in  
Lebanon and Palestine due to Israel's aggressive actions.[7] Chavez  
has publicly criticized UN Secretary General Ba Ki Moon for not doing  
enough to strop repression by Israel.[8] These statements and actions  
have made Chavez one of the most popular leaders in the Arab world and  
have led opposition political parties in Arab countries to urge their  
governments to copy Venezuela's actions towards Israel. [9] Venezuela  
previously had military ties with Israel but chose to abandon them in  
favor of standing up for Palestinian rights.[10]

Chavez's actions towards Israel is something that all members of the  
international community should be emulating to stop the genocidal  
policies of the Israeli government. Stephen Lendmen in an article  
about holding Israel accountable for international law violations  
stated that when nations ignore Israel's crimes such as their  
violations of UN Resolutions, the Geneva Conventions and the UN  
Charter or tacitly cooperate with it while they are committing these  
crimes, they are indirectly responsible for aiding their crimes and  
are "criminal accomplices" under Article 6 of the Nuremberg Charter. 
[11] Unfortunately, most nation states like India have chosen to  
ignore Israel's crimes during the last decade by continuing to  
increase military and cultural ties with them thus arguably becoming  
criminal accomplices in their crimes.

Also unfortunate is that nation state participation and support is  
required to legally hold Israel accountable for all their crimes  
against Palestinians and the surrounding Arab countries. The UN  
General Assembly can act to establish an International Criminal  
Tribunal for Israel like they did for Rwanda but this would require  
General Assembly members to act to bring about this proposal.  
Additionally, Palestinians can sue Israel for Genocide at the  
International Court of Justice but this again requires action brought  
by a nation state or at least consent for the suit by a nation state.   
Similarly, any attempt to expel Israel from the UN for defying UN  
resolutions and violating the UN Charter would require the action be  
brought by a UN member state.

It is for these reasons that citizens of various nation states who are  
concerned about the plight of the Palestinians must bring pressure to  
their governments to take Venezuela's lead and take concrete actions  
to hold Israel accountable for their behavior. Such demands can  
include breaking diplomatic ties with Israel and consenting to and  
supporting any suit brought against Israel for genocide in an  
international tribunal.  Many left parties in India and other  
countries have already taken the lead in the area and must continue to  
exercise pressure on their respective governments to follow  
Venezuela's lead with respect to Israel. Noted international lawyer,  
Francis Boyle, has also followed this strategy and lobbied Iranian  
officials for state consent to sue Israel for genocide against the  
Palestinians at the International Court of Justice.[12]  Only actions  
such as these will serve to show the Palestinian people that the world  
will not turn a blind eye to the genocide that they are facing and  
will serve to motivate them to continue their anti-colonial struggle.

Nikhil Shah is an attorney in Los Angeles and a board member of the  
Los Angeles National Lawyers Guild.

________________________________________

[1] Krieger, Mathew, "Israel-China "water-trade" to rise  
significantly," Jerusalem Post, November 11, 2000.

[2] Ravid, Barak, "Israel may downgrade ties with Venezuela," Haaretz,  
September 30, 2007.

[3] Khatib, Dima, "Winning Arab hearts and minds," Al Jazeera, 18  
August 2006.

[4] "Chavez Suggests Trying Israel for Genocide," Israel Today, August  
27, 2006.

[5] Id.

[6]"Syria, Venezuela denounces U.S. "double-standard policy," El  
Universal, 31 August 2006

[7] Mather, Steven, "Israel Withdraws its Ambassador for Venezuela,"  
Venezuelaanalysis.com, August 8, 2006.

[8] Mundial, Yvke, "Chavez criticizes Israel and Columbia for claiming  
right of defense to justify invasions," www.venezuelaanalysis.com  
March 3, 2008.

[9] "Syrian Communists urge Arab leaders to Copy Venezuela's protest  
against Israel," Khaleej Times, August 2, 2006.

[10] Parma, Alessandro, "U.S. Continues to Block Venezuelan Defense  
Development," Voltairenet.org, October 26, 2005.

[11] Lendman, Stephen, "Israel Must be held accountable for its  
International Law Violations," ZMagazine, August 12, 2006.

[12] Gelkin, Chris, "Lawyer seeks Iran's help to sue Israel over Gaza  
Seige," Worldpress, April 25, 2008, http://www.worldpress.org/Mideast/3128.cfm