{"id":4290,"date":"2010-10-12T13:29:00","date_gmt":"2010-10-12T11:29:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-03-21T13:43:32","modified_gmt":"2025-03-21T11:43:32","slug":"epalestine-guardian-can-oecd-stand-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/2010\/10\/epalestine-guardian-can-oecd-stand-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Guardian: Can the OECD stand up to Israel? (by Sam Bahour and Charles Shamas)"},"content":{"rendered":"

guardian.co.uk<\/a> <\/p>\n

Can the OECD stand up to Israel? <\/span><\/p>\n

The upcoming OECD tourism summit in Jerusalem will test its member
\ncountries’ commitment to international law<\/p>\n

By Sam Bahour and Charles Shamas
\nTuesday 12 October 2010 12.00 BST<\/p>\n

What can be said for the state of international law when international
\norganisations such as the OECD find themselves unable to prevent a member
\ncountry from bringing its unlawful practice into the life of the
\norganisation itself? In such situations, how can law-abiding member
\ncountries avoid being drawn into acquiescence? Later this month, these
\nquestions may find answers when Israel hosts an OECD gathering in
\nJerusalem to discuss global tourism.<\/p>\n

The OECD is an international economic organisation of 33 countries, with
\nthe latest controversial addition to this club being Israel. The OECD
\nexplains its mission as providing “a setting where governments compare
\npolicy experiences, seek answers to common problems, identify good
\npractice and co-ordinate domestic and international policies”. At minimum,
\none would expect the co-ordination of these “international policies” to
\nremain within the bounds of international law.<\/p>\n

At Israel’s invitation, the 86th session of the OECD tourism committee
\nwill take place in Jerusalem on 20 and 21 October to discuss supporting a
\nsustainable and competitive tourism industry for the benefit of the
\nmembers’ economies. The session will be attended by senior government
\nofficials from OECD member countries and key emerging economies. This is
\nonly the second time that the meeting has been held outside Paris.<\/p>\n

Israel will conduct itself as the host and as an OECD member based on the
\nIsraeli ministry of tourism’s unlawful unilateral extension of its
\njurisdiction to include occupied East Jerusalem, the Syrian Golan Heights
\nand touristic sites and businesses in those parts of the West Bank
\nreserved for Israeli settlement.<\/p>\n

Israel’s ministry of tourism website clearly lists tourist sites in
\noccupied territory, such as the Dome of the Rock and the Church of the
\nHoly Sepulchre, as Israeli sites. The ministry’s websites also publicise
\nsettlement-based tourist services licensed by the ministry and receiving
\nIsraeli state financial support under the ministry’s auspices. They
\npresent maps that depict the entire territory of historic Palestine west
\nof the Jordan river, as well as the Syrian Golan, as territory of Israel
\nthat falls under Israel’s national tourism-related and cultural
\nheritage-related responsibility.<\/p>\n

Despite OECD efforts to the contrary, photographs of touristic sites in
\noccupied territory have been incorporated in a website that Israel has
\nconstructed under OECD auspices.<\/p>\n

Last month, the Right to Enter campaign \u2013 a grassroots campaign for the
\nfreedom of movement to\/from and within the occupied Palestinian
\nterritories, for which we volunteer \u2013 wrote to each OECD member to
\nexplain the situation and the harm that will be done by allowing such
\nIsraeli practice under OECD auspices, and by acquiescing to Israel’s
\ninsistence on basing its participation in the OECD on its illegal acts of
\nannexation and settlement in occupied territory.<\/p>\n

All OECD member countries refuse to recognise Israel’s illegal annexation
\nof East Jerusalem and have therefore insisted in keeping their embassies
\nin Tel Aviv instead of Israel’s self- proclaimed “unified” capital. They
\npresumably would not want to be drawn into acts or omissions that would
\nimply that Israeli practice resulting from the very acts of annexation and
\nsettlement they condemn as internationally unlawful can be considered
\nlegitimate under the OECD’s auspices.<\/p>\n

It remains to be seen how they will manage to avoid such missteps. It is
\nhardly encouraging that during the runup to the tourism meeting web pages
\nbearing the OECD emblem continue to advertise touristic and cultural
\nheritage sites in the occupied Palestinian territories as Israeli.<\/p>\n

It is difficult to overlook the fact that Israel has been permitted to
\nbase its performance of its obligations and conduct its participation in
\nOECD activities on its own policies of settlement and annexation,
\nnotwithstanding the duty of the OECD and its member countries not to
\nrecognise these Israeli practices as lawful or give them effect within the
\nOECD.<\/p>\n

Countries planning to attend include Spain, Australia, Austria, Belgium,
\nCanada, Chile, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece,
\nHungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands,
\nNew Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea,
\nSweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the United States.<\/p>\n

For those countries that decide to attend, the devil will be in the
\ndetails. The proficiency of their delegates at identifying and preventing
\nthe importation of Israel’s violations of international law into the
\nproceedings and surrounding events will be sorely tested.<\/p>\n

It can make no sense for world leaders to allow themselves to be drawn
\nprogressively into acquiescing to Israel’s serious and persistent
\nviolations of international law while continuing to demand that
\nPalestinians respect and place their confidence in international law after
\n62 years of dispossession and 43 years of military occupation.<\/p>\n

Yet Israel has become a habitual violator and has also become highly
\nproficient at dragging other states along with it. If the OECD and its
\nmember countries cannot be expected to effectively resist this pull, who
\ncan be expected to hold the line? Who is left to defend the normative
\nfoundations of the just and peaceful world order that states and
\ninternational organisations like the OECD regularly proclaim their resolve
\nto promote?<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/commentisfree\/2010\/oct\/12\/israel-oecd-tourism-summit<\/a><\/p>\n

———————————————————————–<\/p>\n

ePalestine Blog:
\nhttp:\/\/www.epalestine.com<\/a><\/p>\n

———————————————————————–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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