Patterson blasts Holness Administration for UN Jerusalem vote abstention

P.J. Patterson, a former Prime Minister of Jamaica, has spoken out strongly against the country’s decision to abstain from a vote at the United Nations on December 22, condemning the United States for deciding to relocate its embassy in Israel from the present capital, Tel Aviv, to the disputed Jerusalem, the historic city claimed by both the Israelis and the Palestinians.

Mr Patterson, speaking out on the issue on Wednesday, characterised the Jamaican Government’s decision to abstain on the vote as a withdrawal of leadership on an important issue, for which the country has long been known.

Noting that Jamaica has “never reaped any substantial or lasting benefits from grovelling or genuflection,” he said the decision to sit out the UN vote on Jerusalem, did not honourably reflect that tradition.

The former Prime Minister was at the regional headquarters of the University of the West Indies for the launch of a book by former Jamaican Ambassador to Washington Richard Bernal reflecting on how Jamaica, as a small nation, has been able to influence the foreign policy of the United States, a global super power, over decades.

That history of leadership was uppermost in Mr Patterson's mind

“We have won when Jamaica has united with other countries to pursue a common cause by the leadership we have provided at the political, diplomatic and technical levels for CARICOM, the OAS, the United Nations, the Non-Aligned and the Commonwealth.”

It was certainly not the time to change course in that regard he said, in respect of the UN vote.

“The Non-Aligned and the Developing World will question whether we have lost our sense of international morality,” he said.

Accordingly, he said, “the Jamaican people deserve some explanation from their government, and are entitled to ask why.”

Threats

Ahead of the vote on December 22, Nicky Haley, US Ambassador to the United Nations, warned that President Donald Trump would take “personally,” any country voting to support the resolution condemning the American decision in respect of Jerusalem.

“At the UN we’re always asked to do more & give more. So, when we make a decision, at the will of the American people about where to locate OUR embassy, we don’t expect those we’ve helped to target us… The US will be taking names,” She said.

Trump himself threatened to cut off U.S. funding to countries that supported the UN resolution.

"We'll save a lot. We don't care," he said on the option of withholding aid to those countries.

Mr Patterson reminded his audience of instances in the past when Jamaica had stood firm against American pressure to take positions that conflicted with its moral principles.

Kissinger

One of the most celebrated of those encounters occurred in 1975 when Henry Kissinger, then the US Secretary of State, on a visit to Jamaica, sought to pressure Prime Minister Michael Manley into abandoning the country’s principled stance on important geopolitical issues in Africa.

During that visit, he recalled, Kissinger, “implored us to refrain from recognizing the MPLA in Angola and threatened dire consequences if we continued our support for the military presence of Cuba to fight the racist hordes of South Africa.”

“How could we have done any such thing, unless our revulsion against Apartheid and our commitment to liberate all of the African continent from the scourge of colonialism was fake news,” he asked rhetorically.

The Jamaican people now deserve an explanation from their government today on the Jerusalem vote at the UN, he said.

With Bruce Golding, another former Prime Minister of Jamaica in the audience, Mr Patterson said the abstention “wouldn’t not have happened under my watch; I dare to say it wouldn’t have happened under his.”

Jamaica cannot now be open “to any and every bidder” he said, warning: “We cannot dance to the beat of different drums when hallowed principles and precedence suggest we should not abandon sound positions we have taken in the past.