Lakhdar Brahimi was Minister of Foreign Affairs in Algeria (1991-1993), then, in particular, UN mediator in Syria, from August 2012 to May 2014. Alongside former senior politicians, he is a member of the committee for peace The Elders, created at the initiative of Nelson Mandela in 2007 and which published, in May 2020, a report entitled “Why multilateralism must reshape the world after Covid-19”.
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Does Joe Biden’s election as President of the United States mean a return to the old international order?
History does not go backwards. A return to order prior to Donald Trump – which generated intolerable inequalities and injustices – is neither possible nor desirable. The spirit of the United Nations Charter seems to have been forgotten by the great powers: the UN is no longer able to manage, let alone resolve, conflicts such as in Libya, Syria, Yemen… The end of the simplistic improvisations of the Trump era should however pave the way for a more peaceful international environment.
Are Trump’s attacks on international law and institutions reversible?
For the most part, the damage caused by the Trump era is not irreversible. As the United States left the World Health Organization [OMS], for example. This can certainly be criticized, but leave it in the midst of a pandemic [le président Trump a notifié son départ de l’OMS, qui doit être effectif un an plus tard, en juillet 2021] was sheer madness! Washington had already left Unesco [en 1984], before coming back [en 2003, puis de la quitter à nouveau le 1er janvier 2018].
“Everyone is looking for their place, everyone is looking for who they are: look at the United Kingdom, which has decided to leave the European Union! “
On the other hand, no one in the United States will question the recognition [fin 2017] of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. What is irreversible is the American exceptionalism that Trump applied in a vulgar and brutal way, but did not invent.
Does the normalization of Gulf countries’ relations with Israel bury the prospect of a Palestinian state?
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country’s diplomatic relations with countries in the region [Emirats arabes unis, Bahreïn, Soudan et Maroc en 2020] have nothing to do with the occupation of the Palestinian territories. But these developments complicate the situation of the Palestinians as well as the conditions for their national struggle. However, they are not without arguments; the right to self-determination of peoples is enshrined in international law. In addition, they benefit from increased support in public opinion in the region and in the rest of the world.
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