مستقبل السياسة الخارجية المصرية

El voto para Palestina en la UNESCO es una prueba de soberanía

Visto el histórico voto en la UNESCO a favor del ingreso de Palestina como miembro pleno en dicho organismo - adhesión bien merecida y otorgada con enorme retraso - me permito hacer unas consideraciones:

1. Si no fuera por la DICTADURA que ejerce el Consejo de Seguridad de las Naciones Unidas, Palestina sería ya un Estado miembro de la ONU, y este acceso, probablemente, se hubiera hecho realidad hace mucho tiempo.

2. La represalia de los Estados Unidos de retirar su mezquino aporte de 60 millones de dólares a la UNESCO, no funciona. Yo supongo que ese monto de dinero era utilizado, por Israel y EEUU, para comprar votos de todo un bloque en la ONU. Pero ese dinero, en este momento, ya no parece ser importante. EEUU ha confirmado la suspensión de su financiamiento a la UNESCO, por lo tanto, no va a aportar los  60 millones previstos para este mes de noviembre (le corresponde un total de 70 millones de dólares, es decir el 22% del presupuesto de la organización). Israel y Canadá le siguieron el paso. Pues bien, en realidad cualquier país árabe del Golfo puede suplir esta aportación. No estoy segura sí algún jeque árabe lo haría. Aunque si llegaran a asumirlo, el dinero podría proceder, probablemente, de los Estados Unidos, esto es, de los ingresos obtenidos por la venta del petróleo de los países árabes a los EEUU. Queda también otra alternativa, la recogida de fondos por el mundo entero, inclusive por los Palestinos que tienen un patrimonio económico significante en el mundo. En todo caso, la UNESCO ha dicho que por ahora no está en crisis económica. Recordemos que durante mucho tiempo EEUU había abandonado la UNESCO y por lo tanto no pagaba su cuota. La UNESCO sobrevivió.

3. EEUU y la maquinaria del lobby de Israel se encuentran en una debilidad nunca antes vivida, con un desempeño muy pobre! El mundo está claro, no más UNI-POLARIDAD. Los EEUU ya no es la suprema y absoluta superpotencia del mundo.

4. Hoy tenemos la lista actualizada de los países soberanos e independientes del mundo (los que votaron SI), la lista de los países títeres (los que votaron NO), y la lista de los votos de países cobardes, medio-títeres o potenciales títeres (los que se abstuvieron) !

5. Básicamente toda Latinoamérica es hoy en día soberana y apoya un Estado palestino, con la excepción de Panamá (votó NO), México, Colombia más algunas islas del Caribe (voto de abstención), Antigua y Barbados, Dominica y Guyana (ausentes - es decir o bien no se presentaron o no tienen derecho de voto).

6. Ningún país africano votó NO. Hubo algunas abstenciones y ausencias africanas, pero la gran mayoría africana voto SI. Aun siendo el continente mas pobre de todos nuestros continentes, la presión de EEUU no logró ni comprar sus votos ni detener su apoyo a Palestina.

7. Toda la Liga Árabe votó SI con la excepción de 2 ausentes (Islas Comores y Eritrea).

8. En Australasia solo cuatro (4) Islas Pacificas más Australia votaron NO. La mayoría de los países asiáticos votaron SI. Pocas abstenciones (tal como Japón y Sudcorea).

9. Los países europeos parecen estar más divididos que nunca. Francia dio la gran sorpresa votando SI (seguro no por el amor a Palestina. Supongo que Sarkozy quiso mostrar a EEUU que no es un títere, además él busca la gloria de Francia más el voto árabe en Francia para su re-elección). Otros países europeos se abstuvieron (Inglaterra), mientras Alemania, Holanda, Suecia, la República Checa y Lituania votaron NO. O sea la mayoría de los que votaron NO eran países de la Unión Europea que no fue nada unida sobre el tema.

10. Esto es para Palestina sólo el primer paso para ser miembro de más organismos de la ONU, ya que hoy sí sabemos que el mundo apoya a los palestinos no solo con bellas palabras.


Aquí está la lista detallada de la votación.

107 votos SI (Países soberanos):

Afganistán, Argelia, Angola, Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaiyán, Bahréin, Bangladesh, Bielorrusia, Bélgica, Belice, Benín, Bután, Bolivia, Botsuana, Brasil, Brunei Darussalam, Burkina Faso, Camboya, Chad, Chile, China, Congo, Costa Rica, Cuba, Chipre, República Popular Democrática de Corea, República Democrática del Congo, República Dominicana, Ecuador, Egipto, El Salvador, Emiratos Árabes Unidos, España, Filipinas, Finlandia, Francia, Gabón, Gambia, Ghana, Grecia, Granada, Guatemala, Guinea , Guinea Ecuatorial, Honduras, Islandia, India, Indonesia, Irán, Iraq, Irlanda, Jordania, Kazajstán, Kenia, Kuwait, Kirguistán, República Democrática Popular Lao, Lesoto, Líbano, Libia, Luxemburgo, Malawi, Malasia, Malí, Malta, Mauritania, Mauricio, Marruecos, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Níger, Nigeria, Noruega, Omán, Pakistán, Paraguay, Perú, Qatar, Federación de Rusia, Santa Lucía, San Vicente y las Granadinas, Arabia Saudita, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles , Eslovenia, Somalia, Sudáfrica, Sri Lanka, Zimbabue, República Árabe Siria, Sudán, Surinam, Túnez, Turquía, República Unida de Tanzania, Uruguay, Uzbekistán, Venezuela, Vietnam, Yemen, Yibuti.

14 votos NO (EEUU y sus títeres)

Alemania, Australia, Canadá, República Checa, Estados Unidos de América, Israel, Lituania, Países Bajos, Palao, Panamá, Samoa, Islas Salomón, Suecia, Vanuatu.

52 abstenciones (Serán cobardes o valientes?)

Albania, Andorra, Bahamas, Barbados, Bosnia y Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Burundi, Camerún, Cabo Verde, Colombia, Islas Cook, Costa de Marfil, Croacia, Dinamarca, Eslovaquia, Estonia, Fiyi, Georgia, Haití, Hungría, Italia, Jamaica, Japón, Kiribati, Letonia, Liberia, México, Mónaco, Montenegro, Nauru, Nueva Zelanda, Papúa Nueva Guinea, Polonia, Portugal, Reino Unido, República de Corea, República de Moldavia, Rumania, Ruanda, San Cristóbal y Nieves, San Marino, Singapur, Suiza, Tailandia, Macedonia, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad y Tobago, Tuvalu, Uganda, Ucrania, Zambia.

21 ausentes (o bien no se revelaron o no tenían derecho a voto debido al no cumplimiento de sus cotizaciones)

Antigua y Barbuda, República Centroafricana, Comoras, Dominica, Eritrea, Etiopía, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Madagascar, Maldivas, Islas Marshall, los Estados Confederados de Micronesia, Mongolia, Niue, Santo Tomé y Príncipe, Sierra Leona, Sudán del Sur, Suazilandia, Tayikistán, Timor Leste, Turkmenistán.


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Caricatura por : Carlos Latuff
Agradecimientos a : Susana Khalil y María José Gil


Este artículo fue publicado por los siguientes portales de internet
APORREA
REBELION
PALESTINA LIBRE 
KAOS EN LA RED
CANAAN 

مسخرة الأمريكان بعد هزيمة اليونسكو

المتحدثة باسم الخارجية الأمريكية تعلن وقف تمويل بلادها لليونسكو عقاباً لها على 

التصويت لصالح عضوية فلسطين

ثم يأتيها وابل من الأسئلة من صحفي جدير بالاحترام

ليت أحداً يترجم المقطع إلى العربية كي يتمكن من متابعته من لا يتقنون الانكليزية
ولحين توفر الترجمة، إن أمكن، يكفي للإنسان أن يراقب السيدة وهي تحاول أن تجيب لكنها تعجز عن تبرير موقف الولايات المتحدة المشين

Palestine UNESCO Vote Determines Real Sovereignty of Nations

Based on today's historic vote at the UNESCO for Palestine's membership, which gave Palestine this overdue right, I may quickly conclude a few things:

1- If it had not been for the United Nations' Security Council DICTATORSHIP, Palestine would have been a State and a member of UN by now.. and would have probably been able to do it long time ago !

2- The US's threat of cutting its petty US$60 million funding to UNESCO did not work. I guess with that amount of money both Isreal and USA used to buy a whole block of countries for voting purposes at UN organisations. But that money right now does not seem like a big deal. The US has confirmed it was cutting its funding to UNESCO, hence not going to pay the US$60 million due in November (22% of UNESCO's budget). Well any Arab Gulf country can actually fill in. I am not sure whether any Arab Sheikhs would do it, but if they did the money would probably come anyway from the US for the oil it is buying from the Arabs :)

3- The US and Isreal's lobbying machine is weaker than ever. Very poor performance! The world is clearly NOT UNI-POLAR any more, the USA is not the world's Supreme and Absolute Superpower any more. 

4- We now have an updated list of independent sovereign countries of the world (voted YES), a list of US puppet countries (voted NO), and a list of cowardly US semi-puppets or potential puppets (abstained) !

5- Basically all of Latin America is sovereign and supports Palestinian Statehood, except for Panama (voted NO), Mexico, Colombia + a few Caribbean islands (abstained). Antigua & Barbados, Dominica & Guyana (abstentees) either did not show up or did not have voting rights.

6- Not a single African country has voted no. There were some abstentions and some absentees from Africa but most African countries voted YES.

7- All Arab League member countries voted yes except for 2 absentees (Comoros and Eritrea)

8- From AustralAsia only 4 Pacific Islands + Australia voted NO. Most Asian countries voted YES. A few abstained (such as Japan) 

9- European countries seem to be divided on this one. France gave us the big surprise of voting YES (surely not for the love of Palestine. I guess Sarkozy wanted to show the US he is no puppet + he wants glory for France + he could get some Arab voters in France). Other EU countries abstained (Britain) while Germany, Holland, Sweden, Czech Republic and Lithuania voted NO.

10- This is just a first step towards more UN agencies' membership, now that we know the world stands by Palestinians' right to have a country.

I am very happy myself :-)

You may read about Palestine's UNESCO's membership consequences in this article Fact sheet on the PLO's bid for UNESCO membership

Anyway here is the voting list I got from The Human Province blog for you to check out and study. I double-checked at UNESCO's website + news agencies

107 Voted Yes (Sovereign Countries): 

Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Chad, Chile, China, Congo, Costa Rica, Cuba, Cyprus, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Finland, France, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Honduras, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Lebanon, Lesotho, Libya, Luxembourg, Malawi, Malaysia, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Qatar, Russian Federation, Sant Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Slovenia, Somalia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Syrian Arab Republic, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Republic of Tanzania, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Yemen, Zimbabwe.

14 Voted NO (US & its puppets):

Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, Germany, Israel, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Palau, Panama, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Sweden, United States of America, Vanuatu.

52 Abstained (Are they Coward or Courageous?):

Albania, Andorra, Bahamas, Barbados, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Colombia, Cook Islands, Côte d’Ivoire, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Fiji, Georgia, Haiti, Hungary, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Kiribati, Latvia, Liberia, Mexico, Monaco, Montenegro, Nauru, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, San Marino, Singapore, Slovakia, Switzerland, Thailand, Macedonia, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Uganda, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Zambia.

21 Absentees (Either did not show up or have no voting rights - if they didn't pay up their dues):

Antigua and Barbuda, Central African Republic, Comoros, Dominica, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Madagascar, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Confederated States of Micronesia, Mongolia, Niue, Sao Tome and Principe, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Swaziland, Tajikistan, Timor-Leste, Turkmenistan.

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Caricature by: Carlos Latuff 

I am not a suspected "terrorist" any more !

Something unbelievable happened to me.

As I waited at the immigration queue at Miami International Airport, I was already preparing myself psychologically for the “terrorist room” experience.

Since 9/11 whenever I travelled to the United States of America, I would be sent to what I call the “terrorist room”, which others call the “black room”. It is where people like me, Arabs, go through an additional process of immigration registration.

Last time I was in Miami, in summer 2009, the “terrorist room” was so full, it took several hours for the process to be done. I ended up missing my connecting flight, had to stay the night in Miami, had to pay the difference in my ticket, etc. Immigration could not care less that I had a connecting flight.. and I had more than 3 hours connecting time. But that was not long enough for the “terrorist room” visit.

I was praying my “terrorist room” experience would not be so bad this time.

Just like everyone else?

His name was Marti. He was pleasant and polite. He was very intrigued by my travel document. He had never seen a Palestinian refugee travel document before.

“Where did you come from, ma'am”

“Caracas”

“What were you doing there”

“I live there”

“What have you come to the States for?”

“I am invited by Florida International University to speak this afternoon”

“What do you do?”

“I am a journalist”

After a pause, as I watched him check my visa, I asked:

“Are you sending me to that room now?”

“No ma'am. We don't do that any more”

Don't do that any more????

My eyes went wide open as I asked in total disbelief:

“Really?”

“Yes ma'am”

“Since when?”

“Since about a week ago”

My eyes opened up even more, lit like a 4-wheel-drive-car's headlights at night.. I could not believe what I was hearing.

“Please place your four fingers on the machine and take your glasses off for the picture”, he continued.

“So what happens after this?”, I asked anxiously.

“Nothing ma'am you go through”

“You mean I am just like everyone else now?”

“Yes ma'am.. just like everyone else”

He smiled as he looked at my smile become wider and wider, almost reaching ear to ear. I felt like jumping over that desk of Marti's to give him a kiss or a hug or something. He stared at me as he could sense my joy then gave me back my passport.

“You're done ma'am”

No further questions. No further nothing.. Amazing!

I asked him what the name of that room was. He said: NSEERS (National Security Entry-Exit Registration System) 

I must have thanked Marti 3 or 4 times. And here I am, walking away without being interrogated, without waiting, without feeling I am a suspect.

My first terrorist room

Flashbacks of my past experiences in the “terrorist rooms” were haunting me. In 2004 as I disembarked a flight, two officers were there waiting for me.

“Dima Khatib?”, one of them said with a lousy accent as they saw me walk into the airport building. 
“Yes?” I said, taken by surprise.

“Come with us please”

The man who had been sitting next to me on the very long Cathay Pacific flight from Hong Kong to Los Angeles (13 hours!) and with whom I had had an interesting conversation, suddenly walked away from me. Of course he would. I was taken away like some criminal.

How did they know my name? How did they spot me? They must have got the information from the flight attendants as I walked out of the plane.

The hours I spent in Los Angeles Airport's “terrorist room” were absolute hell. They asked me things I never thought anyone would ever ask, things about my grandparents, my friends, my life. I had to sit down and write a list of all the countries I have visited in my entire life, with dates of the visits and names of persons or institutions I visited there. They expected me to know the phone number of my primary school and the name of the headmaster. My purse was emptied and everything in it was checked, bit by bit, including everything that was in my wallet. On a later visit to the USA, during another “terrorist room” experience, one officer said to me : “Is your credit card still number such and such ma'am?” !!!! That is when I realised that in Los Angeles “terrorist room” they had stored the numbers of my bank cards!

For someone who travels as often as me, it is really impossible to list all the countries I have visited. The officer said: if you give any false information you could be denied entry to the United States of America.

I wondered whether I was in some Arab regime airport. I reacted submissively as though I were in one. I was truly in shock.

The Los Angeles “terrorist room” was even more hellish due to the attitude of the officers. I thought they would be nice, being mostly Latinos because Latinos are nice people. But they were mean. I remember one Guatemalan female officer, her last name was Paz. I could hardly understand her English so I spoke to her in Spanish. She got upset and started interrogating me on why on earth an Arab like me coming from Hong Kong speaks such good Spanish. Speaking languages is now suspicious?!

You don't like life in the USA?

Another “terrorist room” experience in 2006 at Miami International Airport included two different interrogation sessions in small interrogation booths. One of my interrogators was a woman. She had a Middle Eastern accent but I did not ask her where she was from. I suspect she was of Iranian or Afghan origin.

“Have you ever applied for immigration to the US?”, she asked, based on the fact that I have family members who have.

“No I haven't”

“Do you plan to apply for a Green Card?”

“No I don't”

“Why?”

“Because I live in Venezuela and I don't plan to live in the US”

"You don't like life in the US?"

"I just have my life in Venezuela right now"

“How is life in Venezuela?”

“I like living in Venezuela”

“Wouldn't you like living in the US?”

“I am happy living in Venezuela”

“But you are a Palestinian refugee.. wouldn't you like to have a US passport?”

“I am happy with my Palestinian document”

She went on and on. I knew that if I told her at any point that I was interested in a Green Card, she could deny me entry to the US on the basis on illegal immigration. But telling her the truth, which is that I wasn't interested, only made her ask more and more questions. And it was none of her business really, after all! But she reminded me several times that having a visa is not sufficient to enter the USA.

Chavez says hello to you!

The other guy who interrogated me that time in Miami asked about my work with Al Jazeera and why I am based in Venezuela out of all countries. When I explained to him that it is the most newsy place in all Latin America for our Arab audience, he got very curious.

“How is Mr. Chavez doing?”

I was not sure how to answer that question. Tricky.

After a brief pause and a smile, I said:

“Chavez is fine. He says hello to you”

“He does?”

“Yes he does. He says hello to every American citizen... You can go back to his speeches and double-check for yourself”

The interrogator tried to get my feelings about Chavez and other leftists in the continent. Again what do my political views or my analysis have to do with an immigration officer?

Why do you travel to the Middle East?

Another flashback came to me from 2010. It was at Houston George Bush International Airport. The immigration officer kept flicking through the pages of my travel document.

“You travel a lot ma'am”

“Yes”

“You have been to many Middle Eastern countries”

“Yes I have. Well, I am from the Middle East”

“But do you go there for leisure or for something else?”

“Mostly to see family”

“Why did you go to Syria and Iran in 2009?”

“I was accompanying Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on a tour in the region”

“Oh.. so you did not go there for leisure... What did you go there for?”

“I was covering the President's tour in the region”

“And why were you doing that?”

“Because I am a journalist, it is part of my job.”

“And what did you report?”

“You may watch Al Jazeera to find out!”

“And why did Chavez go there?”

“You can ask him that yourself if he shows up here one day..”

And I smiled!

He got irritated by the joke but I was not going to let him go through with this interrogation about my reporting. What is his business what I report or where I travel or with whom?

Our conversation ended there. He then sent me to the “terrorist room”.. arrrrgh !

Running around

Often as I left the US I would have to look for the immigration office myself, hidden somewhere, sometimes in a different terminal than the one I was traveling from. I had to get registered as “out” of the country in the system. Otherwise I was told I would never be able to return to the United States.

So over the years I got to learn where these NSEERS offices are located in many US airports. In an airport like Atlanta's you had to go through a complicated route, and then go through security checks all over again.

It was always a pain, always required waiting for some officer to show up, to make sure the “potential terrorist” is registered as having left the US.

Well not any more !

Feeling welcome

As flashbacks faded away, I was enjoying my newly acquired almost hassle-free reality at Miami International Airpot.

Proud and happy, I walked out of the luggage area, still in disbelief. I was still expecting some officer to pop up and get me. I was waiting for that voice to say: “Dima Khatib?” !

But nobody did..

I could not help feel overwhelmed by this new situation. My eyes were full of shy tears. I felt like shouting out loud to everyone: I am like everyone else !

I don't know how the decision was made to abolish this. Surely it wouldn't be because of Bin Laden's recent death. I just read online that it turned out not to be such an efficient policy in combatting terrorism because it focuses on origin or country instead of other factors. Not sure if there is some new procedure that will replace it. I could not care less at this stage.

I am just enjoying this historic day. It added to the feeling of freedom and dignity Arabs are feeling today thanks to the revolutions. NSEERS is gone. It almost sounds like some State Security body in an Arab country abolished by the revolution.

For the first time in 10 years, I can say I entered the United States of America with dignity.

The "Fall of Baghdad" 8 years ago

Eight years ago on 9 April 2003 US tanks entered Firdous Square in Baghdad. Saddam's statue was brought down. Everyone watched that historic moment of the "Fall of Baghdad".


Back then I was working as a live news producer in Al Jazeera's newsroom in Doha. I would spend endless hours, days producing continuous live coverage of events in Iraq. I was featured in a documentary called Control Room where I argued that that moment was not the "Fall of Baghdad". It was just seen or meant to be seen as such. 


This year Al Jazeera English goes back to that kodac moment, talks to people who have lived it.


You can watch AJE's programme. The story on Iraq comes in at minute 13:29. I come in at 16:51, 18:17 (from: Control Room) and 18:40 

Or on Al Jazeera's website Listening Post - Al Jazeera English

PS I can't believe 8 years have gone by! 

PPS Don't miss the segment after the Iraq piece where two babies discuss the Iraq and Libya scenarios. Very funny