No One-Trick Pony
For a tiny country with a slender population base Israel hits above her weight in the world of scientific discovery, as she does in so many other ways; music, philosophy, medical science, to name a few. Yet Israel is known world-wide for one thing only, and that is the unsettling of the Middle East. To her is accorded the dubious sobriquet of 'intruder' on a landscape not recognized as her own, despite that this is precisely where her people first appeared on the world stage, however condensed it was at the time.The scattered people that once populated ancient Israel but who were forced through conquest to migrate all over the globe acquired over themillennia an uncanny ability to produce individuals whose genius altered world consciousness forever. The most widely-read single piece of literature originated with ancient Jewry; philosophy and medicine and scientific achievement owed greatly to Jewish intellect. Jews of renown in the arts and sciences still are over-represented in their numbers as opposed to those of any other ethnic-cultural origin.
And in settling once again in Israel, Jews demonstrated to the world that they were capable of achieving scientific break-throughs in agronomy, desalinization, the health sciences, literature, and military strategy, to name but a few areas of distinction. Jewish scientists have been generous in agreeing to share their findings and knowledge with others, for this is the way with scientists in general; an open invitation to colleagues to share.
Hardly surprising, then, that Israel sought to bring her expertise in agricultural advances to the world stage in an effort to lead the way toward enabling less-practised economies to produce for themselves the opportunities to feed their populations through the development of new farming technologies, encouraged and funded by developing countries.
Israel's resolution to encourage wealthy nations of the world to assist developing countries was successfully passed at the United Nations. Her very first such attempt at taking her place within that body in such a manner, completely outside of politics. The General Assembly's Second Committee which deals with development issues saw the resolution passed with 118 votes in favour, 29 abstentions, and no opposing votes, to be brought before the full General Assembly in a week's time for full ratification.
A non-political resolution whose purpose is to benefit undeveloped countries to provide for themselves. Yet made political by the fact that those who abstained from supporting this vital resolution represented mostly countries with whom Israel is politically estranged; Arab and Muslim countries of theMagreb and perhaps not surprisingly, some African countries. Yet this was a celebratory occasion for the State of Israel.
Through this achievement, the country finally feels it has been accepted on a wider scale than merely a country whose presence within a contested geography is seen as that of an irritating nuisance on the world stage, whose presence on that very stage has been contested time and again by her adversaries. "For Israel, this is a very dramatic development, and an historic day at the UN" stated Israel's ambassador to the UN, DanGillerman.
"It is the very first time that Israel initiates and authors and submits a resolution which has nothing to do with the conflict. It is not easy for Israel to have its resolutions and its points of view adopted. This makes Israel a much more normal and acceptable member of the UN. One of our main aims is to not be a one issue country and to bring awareness of Israel's excellence to the world."
Stunningly, among the countries abstaining, out of nothing but pure spite, were Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa. All of which are in dire need of such assistance in achieving agricultural sustainability for their populations. Nicely enough, Afghanistan and Pakistan voted in favour of the resolution, so solidarity among Islamic countries was not absolute, with a few extending themselves toward exercising a political element of individual practicality.
Predictably, someone had to rain on Israel's parade in a more obviously pointed manner, and that was left to the Palestinian Authority's UN representative who, in criticizing the initiative, informed Reuters that Israel was only "trying to score political points". He, of course, would know all about that element of making one's presence known at the United Nations.
Labels: Israel, Technology, That's Life
posted by Pieface @ Thursday, December 13, 2007
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