Why is Belize at The Hague?

Jerusalem Post ^ | Feb. 24, 2004 | HERB KEINON

[yonif]

Glancing at the list of 13 countries arguing against Israel and the security fence at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague, it is easy to understand what most of these countries are dong there.

For instance, little explanation is needed to understand why Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Cuba, Indonesia, Jordan, and Sudan have taken the time and energy to argue against Israel.

But why Belize? What was this small Central American country on the Caribbean coast, about a two-hour flight from Miami, doing at The Hague? Why was the representative from Belize, which has diplomatic ties with Israel, slamming Israel for a variety of wrongs?

"Impunity in the face of trampled international law must come to an end, and the issue of the court today is to recall this with firmness," Belize's representative Bassam Freiha told the ICJ Tuesday. "There is no doubt that it will be heard beyond the boundaries of this case." Even some senior Belizean officials had difficulty understanding what their country was doing among the ranks of those damming Israel and the fence.

"Under normal circumstances, Belize would not be involved in this kind of discussion at all, at The Hague. We have our own problems to deal with," Cabinet Secretary Robert Leslie told Israel Radio. "I think that somewhere along the line, some mistake must have been made. It is not in the interest of Belize to participate, or to make statements on these matters at this time."

According to Israeli diplomatic officials, the reason for Belize's involvement was no mistake, is consistent with the country's past record, and has much to do with the Belize Prime Minister Said Musa.

Musa, according to a Web site promoting the country of some 240,000 people, is "a British-educated lawyer of Palestinian and Belizean heritage." It is the Palestinian angle, according to officials, that has moved Musa to place his country among the list of the more vocal defenders of the Palestinian cause in various international forum.

This was not the first time Belize has taken a stand against Israel at international forum. At the Durban conference in 2000, Belize – seemingly out of nowhere – was among the most vociferous of the non-Muslim countries blasting Israel.

Assad Shoman, the country's representative at that conference, said "The international community singled out apartheid for particular condemnation because South Africa was a country that embraced racism in its Constitution, as the basis for its policies and practices with regard to its black citizens.

"The State of Israel does not have a written constitution, but no one can deny that the lives of Palestinians under occupation are as much ruled by racism as were the people of South Africa under apartheid, with the added aggravation that many Palestinians have been expelled completely from their land and denied the right to return."

[John Beresford Tipton]

Earlier today, as mentioned in another post, Belize withdraw from the Hague proceedings saying that it had no dog in the fight.

[yonif]

I wonder what brought them there in the first place.

[John Beresford Tipton]

It was a very strange announcement. Their foreign minister said he did not know why they were there and that Belize had no interest in the matter.

Sounded like the old Abe Lincoln joke, "I freed the *WHAT*"!!

[psjones]

As the article states, it's because Musa is of Palestinian descent, but I think he should keep Belize out of that fight.
Too bad the people re-elected Musa, but the other party made major mistakes when they were in power, mistakes such as instituting a VAT at 15% which initially included food items.
Thanks to the person who posted the article.

[ChinaThreat]

This is one of the most interesting articles i have seen in weeks. Belize is a speck on the collective rear end of the Western Hemisphere. What is truly bizarre though is it appears the government is being run by Muslims. This area of the world is almost exclusively Christian and the Christians are almost exclusively Catholic.

The Prime Minister is named Said Musa and the rep sent to the conference is named Assad Shoman. There is no other way to describe this as anything other than simply bizarre. With Madame Notbright running our State dept it would not suprise me if we are sending these people billions in aid. I hope someone in at State or Langley is making note of this. What's going on down there in loca tierra? Anybody know much about Belize and this government?

[ChinaThreat]

Or is this just one of those strange twists in reality that produced freak shows like Fujimoro in Peru?

[yonif]

I wonder what kind of "brotherly" groups this government harbors in their country.

[AmishDude]

Free shrimp.

[iopscusa]

Prime Minister Musa looks like the typical British Educated Marxist meglomaniac...from the PM's website about his recent trip to worship in Cuba:
"At a reception on Monday night, President Castro was decorated with Belize's highest award to a non-Belizean - the Order of Belize."

[camas]

one thing Guatemala claims the land. are the rag heads moving in down there?? that could prove to be a real problem

[ChinaThreat]

Guatemala claims Belize's territory? Thats interesting. I bet the Allbright leftovers at Foggy Bottom had no idea about this. They were probably focused on "phixthing our relathonthip with Franth" or gearing up for saving Jean Begone Aristupid in Haiti who their King Clinton saved many years ago.

[Never2baCrat]

Apparently, people in the know in Belize will tell you stories about George Price, an ex-Prime Minister, who would takes trips to Cuba under cover of darkness, hence the Cuban connection.

[StriperSniper]

Where now, Costa Rica? ;-)

[thedugal]

First of all, Belize is almost entirely escaped slaves. Belize is home to some of the best diving in the world with massive coral reefs along its shore. Those coral reefs used to tear up slave ships and many times the slaves were able to escape into the Belizean jungle. The country was a British colony, then called British Honduras, until 1981 when it became an independent country.

I am not sure of the exact percentage, but some 80+% are African, about 10-15% are native Mayans with a few Mexicans scattered in, a few Brits and U.S. hippies (pot was legal there until recently and still very available) and some small colonies of Germans (Mennonites). The small islands off the coast are almost entirely tourists particularly divers. Because the official language is English it makes a much easier vacation spot for Americans than the rest of Central America which speak primarily Spanish. Of course, the English spoken in Belize is spoken with a thick African accent which takes a bit of getting used to, similar to Jamaican.

The biggest problems the country faces are rampant poverty and drug abuse. If it weren't for the natural dive geology the country would probably be another Haiti or be invaded by one of its neighbors. Belize has absolutely no dog in the Israel fight except one, the Palestinian PM.

In other words, it's just one racist Arab who gets to show up at The Hague and present his own personal hatred of Israel as a "nation" to be tallied. This is the true farce of "multilaterialism". The Alabama National Guard could invade and occupy Belize in a weekend with or without certain Lieutenants AWOL. The GDP of a single Californian city is greater than Belize. The idea that a pissant country gets equal say to another country is ludicrous.

[psjones]

If Belize was getting bilions in aid, it was not being spent on imnproving the country, but in improving the bank account of the politicians. I sincerely doubt aid was in the billions, though. They do get aid from Britain since it was once a british colony.
Majority of Belizeans are Catholic and are for the most part a conservative culture.

[psjones]

That would be billions, not bilions.
I'm emailing this article to my family in Belize. That I know of, none of them are supporters of Musa's party.

[Texas2step]

I've been to Belize 5 times in the last 15 years. It's a "new" country currently experiencing massive growing pains. It's a very poor country, only gaining electricity and running water in 90%+ of the country in the past 10 years.

The Prime Minister is of Palestinian descent, and there is a fairly significant amount of Palestinian immigration in the last 10 or so years. The immigration policy in Belize is worse than ours, with citizenship currently being available for the right price.

Over 50% of the small businesses in Belize are owned and operated by immigrants - Palestinians and Chinese making up the majority of the immigrants.

The "african" descendents are considered to be "creole" and their "creole" language is a variation of the English that is spoken in Jamaica. The do make up the majority of the population, but, IMO, their culture is a "lazy" culture. Unemployment is high (as high as 50%), but many don't want to work full time anyway. They're happy just scraping by for a living.

The PM and current government have made some improvements in the economy, mainly through redoubled efforts in tourism, opening a cruise ship port, pushing tourism into the jungles and Mayan ruins, and the numerous islands along the barrier reef along the coast.

This is probably what is currently keeping the current government in power. This is a government that refused to back the US on Iraq (I was there in March when all the fighting was going on). While the government and media seemed to be hostile to US actions, the vast majority of the people really didn't care.

Very interesting country just south of our neighbor to the south, Mexico.

[thedugal]

Interesting, I haven't been there since 92.

[ChinaThreat]

Thanks for the incite folks. Sounds like a problem in the making to me. What is your take?