The BDN Opinion section operates independently and does not set news policies or contribute to reporting or editing articles elsewhere in the newspaper or on bangordailynews.com.
John M. Fitzgerald of Sedgwick is a former legislative aide and subcommittee counsel in the U.S. House of Representatives, and a former member of the Policy Bureau of the U.S. Agency for International Development.
When U.S. embassy staff in Iran were held hostage in 1979, I was an aide to a member of Congress who agreed that I should call the State Department to suggest U.S. action in response should be based on international law and not just the reaction of a wounded giant. We said the U.S. should seek a declaratory judgment from the International Court of Justice that Iran’s holding diplomats hostage was a violation of international law. The U.S. would champion the international law that protects all people while taking steps to free the hostages and end the crisis. The Foreign Service officer said that it was a very good idea that no one had suggested yet. The U.S. won a declaratory judgment paving the way for the U.S. to seize the Iranian embassy and other assets for beneficial uses, including as partial compensation for harm done.
On Nov. 8, Sen. Angus King and 25 Democratic senators wrote to President Joe Biden informing him that they support more aid to Israel but that they want to know how the U.S. will assure that such aid will be used responsibly to bring peace and the rule of law.
“We support additional assistance to Israel that: 1) aligns with an Israeli strategy that you believe will effectively degrade and defeat the threat from Hamas; 2) prioritizes the release of hostages; 3) advances a viable and achievable military plan that supports a long-term vision for peace, security and Palestinian self-determination in the form of a two-state solution; 4) abides by U.S. and international law, including the protection of civilians; and 5) advances efforts to provide desperately needed humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza,” the senators wrote in their letter. “The information requested in this letter will help us assure that U.S support for Israel’s operations inside Gaza achieves these objectives.”
Sen. Susan Collins, who is vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Rep. Chellie Pingree, who is a member of the House Appropriations Committee, should move to amend the pertinent appropriations bill or committee report on aid to Israel, if possible, or simply ask President Biden to use such authority as he already has, or provide it, to use his powers and U.S. forces in the following manner to introduce with our allies a United Nations resolution creating a U.N. mission to Gaza of diplomats, police, medical teams, engineers and armed peacekeepers to: interpose themselves between the Israelis and Hamas; to recover all hostages; take over both the tunnel-by-tunnel disarmament of Hamas and any persons who are illegally present and armed in Gaza; increase financial pressure on Iran to stop arming militants while inviting responsible regional participation in peacekeeping; and form an international body to oversee the transition to a two-state solution.
Meanwhile, the U.S. should assemble a multinational peacekeeping force that can either implement a program to achieve the above set of objectives with “UN blue helmets,” or act to implement the ceasefire called for in UN resolution 1860, without further UN support.
Fittingly, it happens that the U.N. has a new arrangement called the Peacekeeping Capability Readiness System. “Peacekeepers are civilian, military and police personnel all working together, protecting civilians, disarming ex-combatants, protecting human rights, promoting the rule of law, supporting free and fair elections, minimizing the risk of land-mines and much more,” the UN says.
The challenges are numerous: further civilian deaths, the prospects for a Palestinian state, regional or even global extension of the present conflict, the end of the existence of Israel — or worse. Time is of the essence.
Maine has endured its share of senseless killing. But Maine’s own George Mitchell helped end generations of sectarian violence in Northern Ireland. Like him, our delegation can lead the world toward peace and justice. Maine can once again show the world a better way.
