Page 22 - Islands Business March 2024

Diplomacy Diplomacy

INTERNATIONAL BLUNDER OR

DOMESTIC STRATEGY?

FIJI’S POSITION ON ISRAEL COULD HINT AT PARADIGM SHIFT

By Richard Naidu was committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Fiji’s
pro-Israel position was on another matter - the United Nations
South Africa’s case against Israel at the International Court General Assembly (UNGA) had requested the ICJ’s advisory
of Justice (ICJ) has been described as involving two competing opinion into Israel’s policies in the occupied territories.
narratives: one, about a displaced Palestinian people denied Addressing the ICJ, Fiji’s Permanent Representative to the
their right to self-determination, and the other, about the United Nations, retired Colonel Filipo Tarakinikini said the
Jewish people who, having established an independent state ICJ should not render an advisory opinion on the questions
in their historical homeland after generations of persecution posed by the General Assembly. He said the court had been
in exile, have been under threat from hostile neighbours ever presented “with a distinctly one-sided narrative. This fails
since. to take account of the complexity of this dispute, and
When Fiji joined the United States as the only two countries misrepresents the legal, historical, and political context.”
to support Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territory at The UNGA request was “a legal manoeuvre that circumvents
the ICJ in February, it was seen as walking head-on into one the existing internationally sanctioned and legally binding
of longest running conflicts in history, leaving Fijians, as well framework for resolution of the Israel-Palestine dispute,” said
as the international community struggling to figure out which Tarakinikini.
narrative that position fit into. “And if the ICJ is to consider the legal consequences of the
Following Hamas’ unprecedented attack on Israel in alleged Israeli refusal to withdraw from territory, it must also
October, Israel’s retaliatory campaign against Hamas look at what Palestine must do to ensure Israel’s security,” he
has provoked international consternation and has seen a said.
humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza, resulting in the motions On the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination,
against Israel in the ICJ. “Fiji notes that the right to self-determination is a relative
South Africa had asked the ICJ to consider whether Israel right.
“In the context of Israel/Palestine, this means the Court
would need to ascertain whether the Palestinians’ exercise of
their right to self-determination has infringed the territorial
integrity, political inviolability or legitimate security needs of
the State of Israel,” he added.

Crossing the line
Long-standing Fijian diplomats such as Kaliopate Tavola and
Robin Nair said Fiji has crossed the line by breaking with its
historically established foreign policy of friends-to-all-and-
enemies-to-none.
Nair, Fiji’s first ambassador to the Middle East, said Fiji had
always chosen to be an international peacekeeper, trusted
by both sides to any argument or conflict that requires its
services.
“The question being asked is, how is it in the national
interest of Fiji to buy into the Israeli-Palestine dispute,
particularly when it has been a well-respected international
peacekeeper in the region?
“Fiji has either absented itself or abstained from voting on
any decisions at the United Nations concerning the Israeli-
Palestinian issues, particularly since 1978 when Fiji began
taking part in the UN-sponsored peacekeeping operations in
the Middle East,” Nair told Islands Business.
Nair said it was worth noting that in keeping with its
traditionally neutral position on Israeli-Palestinian issues, Fiji
Fijians protest outside the Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre Head Office in Suva against had initially abstained on the UN General Assembly resolution
Fiji’s opposition to a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza. Photo: Fiji Women’s Crisis asking the ICJ for an advisory opinion.
Centre

22 Islands Business, March 2024