Repeal of Zionism Resolution

The repeal of the U.N. resolution (front page, Dec. 17) asserting that Zionism is racism signifies a long overdue attempt to rectify the horrendous defamation of Israel in which the United Nations engaged for more than two decades. Its repeal has been heralded as a testimony to the end of the Cold War and it surely is that. But the repeal does not just mark the end of an era thankfully past. It makes a chilling statement about the present and carries with it a mandate for the future.

The world must note with discomfort that no Arab country voted for the repeal--not Egypt, which has diplomatic relations with Israel and is at “peace” with it; not Syria, Lebanon or Jordan, countries participating in the current peace process; not Saudi Arabia, whose representative chairs the General Assembly and walked out before the vote. Their insistence on standing by the big lie is a powerful expression of their intentions toward Israel.

The repeal of the resolution is a clear but minuscule step toward establishing confidence in the objectivity and fairness of the United Nations where Israel is concerned. Taken by itself, however, it represents no commitment of institutional reliability and allays no fears. Indeed, in the context of the Bush Administration’s past efforts to pressure Israel to make significant political concessions to the Arabs with no substantial security concessions in return, the repeal of the resolution will undoubtedly be flaunted as a show of America’s “evenhandedness.” Worse, it will lend a specious veneer of legitimacy to remaining and future U.N. proclamations.

It must not be forgotten that there remain on the books over 60 anti-Israel U.N. resolutions dripping with the evil intentions and self-serving hypocrisy of the hostile, terrorist Arab nations who initiated them and with the cynicism of hapless nations eager for Arab oil that approved them.

The repeal of this resolution is a first step and deserves a small applause, but it in no way wipes clean the 20-year history of U.N. anti-Israel bias. Until all resolutions spawned with defamation in their heart and the politics of Israel’s destruction at their base are gone, the United Nations deserves no say in the affairs of Israel.

I suggest that the U.N. repeal one of these insidious resolutions each week until every one of them is gone and that it then begin to systematically address its most egregious omissions.

LOUISE STOLL

Berkeley