After
Heat in Rights
Committee, USUN
Canapes Have
Palestine and
Eritrea, Not
Syria
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 18 --
This is the
season of the
UN committee,
and in
the Third
(Human Rights)
Committee on
Thursday
evening things
came to
a head.
The
representative
of Syria said
children in
her country
are
being hurt by
sanctions,
depriving them
of
vaccinations.
She said
that a
previous US
speech should
have admitted
the abuses
committed
by the
anti-Assad
armed groups.
The
US did not
reply, but
Israel did,
calling
Syria's
response
absurd and
also
denouncing the
Palestinian
observer
mission's
speech,
replying
that Hamas
blocks UNRWA
schools from
teaching the
Holocaust.
Palestine
exercised
its right of
reply,
emphasizing
Israel's 2200
calorie count
for the Gaza
blockade.
Ironically,
scheduled
to start at 6
pm was the US
Mission to the
UN's annual
reception for
the Third
Committee. The
food there was
fine --
chicken
on skewers,
vegetable dip
and cheese
cubes -- but
what Inner
City
Press wanted
to see was if
Syria was
present.
This
did not appear
to be the
case, and it
was explained
to Inner City
Press that the
US does not
invite
countries with
which it does
not
have relations
and that the
US pulled out
of Damascus
and so "that's
it." Eritrea,
another US
target, was at
the reception;
Palestine's
Observer Riyad
Mansour
greeted Inner
City Press on
his
way out.
In
the reception
room facing
the UN and
East River,
talk turned to
when
Palestine will
apply to the
General
Assembly for
observer state
status.
"November
after the
election,
either way the
voting
goes," it was
said. A
pro-Israel
source noted
that Tel Aviv
released money
to the
Palestinian
Authority this
week, without
fanfare. This
was not heard
in the Third
Committee, but
that's not
what the
committee if
for.
Sudan
spoke there,
stating that
the SPML-North
recruits child
soldiers.
Chile's
Permanent
Representative
sung his
country's
praises. Soon
there will be
a resolution
introduced on
Syria.
Meanwhile
Syria on
Thursday
prepared a
submission to
the Security
Council.
One
block north at
the farewell
for Turkey's
Permanent
Representative
Apakan, he was
appropriately
called a
humble
ambassador. As
Inner
City Press
left, with
North Korea's
Perm Rep, UN
official Kim
Won-soo,
sometimes
called "Ban's
Brain,"
spotted him
and
spun 360
degrees in the
Turkish
mission's
revolving door
to speak
with him out
on the
sidewalk. It's
a Peninsula
thing. Watch
this
site.
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