Harry Targ
UN Action to Stop Israeli Aggression
Today?
Code Pink
While historians have subsequently debated the Cold
War narrative of conflicts on the Korean peninsula, the US operation was
designed to “repel aggression” of the North in the South. Some 16 countries
participated in UN operations under the US command.
When North Korean forces invaded below the 38th
parallel on the Korean peninsula the UN commission on Korea claimed that the
invasion was a planned full-scale attack. President Truman called for a meeting
of the UN Security Council which resolved that the invasion was a “breach of
the peace.” The Security Council was able
to act without the threat of the former
Soviet Union’s veto because the Soviet
delegate was boycotting the meeting (the Security Council had refused to allow
the Peoples’s Republic of China to take the China seat in the UN).
On UN Military Action on the Korean
Peninsula
“United Nations Command operates under the
mandates of United Nations Security
Council (UNSC) Resolutions
82, 83, 84,
and 85…..[11] While
the UN had some military authority through Chapter VII of the
United Nations Charter, early Cold
War tensions meant that the forces envisaged in
those articles had yet to become reality.,,, the UNSC designated the United
States as the executive agent for leading a
"unified command" under the UN flag. As it was a designated body, the
UN exercised little control over the combat forces.” (Wikipedia entry)
This US/UN force was the first attempt at collective
security under the UN system. Most importantly, General MacArthur was appointed
to head the UN military forces in Korea and
more than 16 countries participated in
US-led operations.
In Addition: Is Israel Committing Genocide?
Below is the language of Article 2 of the United Nations Convention on Genocide
initiated in 1948. Is there any doubt that the government of Israel is engaging
in genocidal policies against the Palestinian people in the Gaza strip?
“In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed
with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or
religious group, as such:
(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of
the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of
life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within
the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to
another group.”
Both Israel and the United States are signatories to the Genocide Convention.
Possible UN Action?
The Korean War example and the Genocide Convention suggest
that a comparable United Nations force should be constructed and sent to the
Middle East, not just as a peacekeeping force, but a force designed to stop
Israel’s aggression throughout the region. It is clear that most of the world’s
citizens and a vast majority of United Nations member countries would support
such action.
