The United Nations Security Council
The Security Council was established for the purpose of fostering and sustaining peace and safety in the global community. The council convenes on issues of utmost importance and highest security threats. Fifteen members sit on this council each year. The council has five permanent members known as the P5. The P5 consists of The United States, Russian Federation, France, United Kingdom, and People’s Republic of China. The other ten countries are non-permanent countries that are chosen every two years.
Topic One: The Israeli-Palestinian conflicts
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been ongoing and remains a subject of contentious debate for over the past60 years. Each day there are casualties from both sides of the battle. Like many countries in Africa, the Middle East has continued to deal with negative aspects and remnants of colonization and the fall of the Ottoman Empire. Many Middle Eastern countries were colonized by the United Kingdom. When decolonization occurred the British had to decide what to do with the land of Palestine. In 1919, the League of Nations proposed a Mandate thatwould give the Jewish communitya homeland in Palestine and wouldsimultaneously allow Britain to preside over the territories until it was established that the residents were ready for independence. In the next two years this mandate would be updated to protect non-Jewishresidents living in Palestine. The plan was for both Jewish and non-Jewish residents to reside in the territory of Palestine. Both Israel and Palestinecommunities however have competing claim over the holy heritage of Jerusalem. They have not been able to reach agreements over who have a legitimate control over the Jerusalem.
The United Nations’ attempt in 1947 to separate the lands between the Palestinian and Jewish states was perceived by the Palestinian as biased in favor of Israel, and eventually led to the outbreak of war, the victory of Israel, and the Israel occupation of lands previously occupied by Palestinians. Following the Israeli-Arab War in 1967, Israel conquered more land, including the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and parts of Egypt and Syria. These were considered “occupied territories” since acquiring territory is considered illegal by existing international law. Most of these lands have since then returned.
While many attempts to foster sustainable solutions for Israeli-Palestinians have failed, there seems to be a growing public acceptance by both sides on a two-state solution, which would create an independent Palestinian state and an independent Jewish state as a means of resolving the conflict. In 1993, both sides signed Oslo accords to create the West Bank and Gaza strip as territories of a Palestinian state.
Despite this significant positive step, outstanding disagreements remain regarding the formulation of detailed arrangements in final agreement and uncertainty about the level of commitments by the opposite party. A major obstacle to reaching final agreement has been division between radical and moderate factions within each community, often manifested through fighting among regular armies, paramilitary groups, terror cells and individuals.
Particularly, the Palestinian side has been fractured by tension between the two major factions: Fatah and Hamas, which exercise respective control over the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip. This has made direct negotiations between the Israeli government and Palestinian leadership difficult.
In 2010, the Israeli government and Palestinian leadership resumed their negotiations. Many challenges remain. These include the need to work on mutual recognition, borders, security, water rights, control of Jerusalem, Israeli settlements, Palestinian freedom of movement Israeli settlements and finding a resolution to the refugee question. The Security Council holds a session to propose a resolution that will foster stability, peace and tranquilityin the Middle East facilitating more positive movements for the Israeli Palestinian conflict.
5 Key Issues to Consider:
1) In 1967 the United Nations produced Resolution 242 in regards to the Palestinian conflict. This resolution was followed by The Oslo agreements and the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative. What were the results and implications of these resolutions? Why did it ultimately fail to bring peace to the Israeli Palestinian Conflict?
2) Does your country recognize the existence of Palestine, Israel or both nations? What does your country propose to solve this ongoing crisis? Does your nation believe in a one or two state solution?
3) What are the terrorist groups operating within the region? Do their existence and activities have an impact on your country politically, socially or economically?
4) Hatred and tension runs deep within both parties involved in this conflict. What can the United Nations do to promote and sustain peace between these two dueling nations and foster a respectful cultural understanding for future generations?
5) The youth has been highly affected by this ongoing conflict. What can be done to ensure education and development within these two nations?
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Iranian Nuclear Proliferation
Iran, originally Persia, was formerly colonized by both Britain and the Soviet Union. After WWII Iranian parliament elected Mohammed Mossadeq as prime minister. Mossadeq announced that he would be returning oil revenue from the British Oil Industry to the Iranian people. In 1953 The United States led a CIA coup to oust Mossadeq. The United States then installed Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavias as the Shah of Iran. Following this decision, the United States funneled $5 million to Iran to help the man they put into power consolidatehis reign. The Shah went on to be a brutal and repressive dictator. The wealth of the country was used to benefit the top tier of society at the expense of the majority poor segment of the country. The Shah instead used the money to throw intricate parties for his new western alliances.The rich became richer and the poor got devastatingly poorer. Ayatollah Khomeini,a man who believed in religious rule, rose to challenge the Shah’s regime. The 1979 Iranian revolution was the first successful Islamic fundamentalist movement.
Since then, Iran has been alleged to have gain access to nuclear power. According to the treaty on nonproliferation, the nuclear countries-- China,United States, France, Russia and The United Kingdom—agreed not to transfer nuclear weapons and technology to other non-nuclear countries. The International Atomic Energy Agency was established to monitor activities to develop nuclear for peaceful uses. The IAEA has stated that Iran has relatively advanced facilities that could be used to enrich uranium, which can be deployed for military purposes. The government of Iran has argued that these facilities were built to establish a nuclear-fuel cycle that would support a civilian energy program. In 2006, the Security Council approved a round of sanctions on Iran. A more aggressive round of sanctions were cast three months later urging Iran to stop its research on nuclear energy.
5 Key Issues to note
1)Does the Security Council have the legitimate authority to prevent a nation from acquiring nuclear weapons? Should we require nuclear countries to slowly reduce their nuclear arms? The only nation to ever use nuclear warfare has been the United States of America on Japan during WWII.Does your nation believe the United Nations has the jurisdiction to prevent others from developing nuclear power and technology?
2)Do you see Iran’s attempt to acquire nuclear weapons as an act to maintainregional balance of power than an attempt to actually use the weapons against its enemies?? What other methods could a country use in negotiation with Iran?
3)What is the IAEA? What are the IAEA’s roles and responsibly?
4)If Iran is to have access to these nuclear weapons what effect will this have on stability within the region, in particularly on Israel?
5)The United States has called a military intervention in Iran. Is this justified? What are the implications/consequences the western economic and political sanctions have on Iran ?
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