Foreign policy has no resonance

A think piece by a certain Sukundimi Blogger entitled ‘Of Religion and Diplomacy’ will not resonate well with the government and especially the Prime Minister James Marape.
The commentary uses fairly hard and harsh language which has no hint of religious or diplomatic origin but it does make a point that warrants examination and serious debate.
Most countries with diplomatic relations with Israel, 89 countries in all, have established their missions in Tel Aviv but PNG joins only four others to establish its mission in divided Jerusalem.
The United States, Guatemala, Honduras, Kosovo and PNG have opened up missions in Jerusalem, right in the heart of the Israeli Palestinian conflict.
Almost as a testament of the gravity of this decision, the PNG embassy is closed now, only a month after its opening, as a direct result of the War between Israel and Hamas.
Opening the embassy in the company of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, PNG’s Marape said: “Today is a milestone moment for my country Papua New Guinea.
“We are here to give respect to the people of Israel to the fullest.”.
He acknowledged that PNG recognised Jerusalem “because of our shared heritage, acknowledging the creator God, the Yahweh God of Israel, the Yahweh God of Isaac and Abraham”.
There is just a catch here and an important one at that: The Palestinian people too lay the same claim to Jerusalem for its historical and well as religious significance.
They too date their inheritance back to the same patriarch, Abraham.
It is a conflict that goes back generations and predates Christianity in certain aspects.
To side with Israel by extension means you side against the Palestinian people.
That has a lot of implications and not just diplomatically and in terms of human rights but also in the interest of personal and national security of Papua New Guinea.
Basically, the entire Arab world is sympathetic to the Palestinian cause.
Arab capitals are up in arms against Israel in the current war, even though it is clear to all that Hamas are the principal aggressors in this latest incident and invited Israel into Gaza.
As normally happens with these types of organisations operating a pseudo or semi-state existence the militant wing will strike terror and fade back into the crowd so that any response will always elicit a ‘civilian casualty’ hue and cry, often negating and drowning out the initial cause.
This is the ploy employed here and it is producing that exact same response.
In another twist PNG and Fiji were among the 14 countries that recently refused to sign the United Nations sponsored ceasefire in the Gaza for humanitarian reasons.
This is noted and added to, in the case of PNG, to its decision to open an embassy in Jerusalem.
Indeed the Palestinian envoy to the United Kingdom said countries that voted against would be remembered. That is a chilling promise.
While countries like the USA have geo-political interests and capacity to defend its citizens both at home and abroad, PNG does not.
That is the reason why most countries adopt a soft balancing attitude by basing their diplomatic/consular offices at Tel Aviv on the widely accepted principles of peaceful coexistenceamong international society, great powers, diplomacy, war, balance of power, international law and human rights.
PNG accedes to most protocols and agreements that agree to this.
In this age of state sponsored terrorism, agents of terror can reach right across the world in hours and strike in the unexpected places.
When Papua New Guinea diplomatic advisors provide their advice to government, they must ensure that advice takes cognisance of everything, including placing PNG citizens in the direct line of danger.
PNG’s foreign policy from Independence forward has been ‘Friend to all, and Enemy to none’.
That policy finds no resonance with PNG’s recent decisions and actions pertaining to Israel.