On
Gaza, Russia
Asks Meeting
of Quartet,
Member of
Which "Blocks"
SC Statement
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 19 --
After the Gaza
consultations
called at noon
by Russia in
the UN
Security
Council ended,
Russian
Permanent
Representative
Vitaly Churkin
came out to
explain.
He
slammed "one
member" of the
Council for
saying it will
not
agree to the
draft press
statement
Morocco
introduced "as
early
as Thursday
night." He
said that the
country, which
is clearly
the United
States,
justified its
position as an
attempt not to
undermine
moves in the
region to
de-escalate
the situation.
Churkin
questioned
how the
Moroccan draft
press
statement
could
undermine
such efforts,
adding that
Russia might
introduce a
Security
Council
resolution,
and wants a
ministerial
meeting of the
Quartet.
Inner
City Press
asked Churkin,
if the same
country
blocking the
press
statement is a
member of the
Quarter, what
could the
Quarter
accomplish?
Churkin
replied
that the
Quarter
shouldn't have
been inactive
so long, that
its inaction
may have
contributed to
the situation.
He said that
another
Council member
arrived Monday
with mere oral
amendments to
the Moroccan
draft. He
called this a
"laid-back
approach."
Germany's
Permanent
Representative
Peter Wittig,
when he left
the Council,
emphasized
that any
statement
should also
call for
stopping the
rockets from
Gaza. He said
that his
country has
proposed
amendments
to the
Moroccan
draft. It is
not known,
yet, if these
were in
writing
or merely
oral.
After
the Security
Council
finishes it
pre-scheduled
debate on
piracy,
around 6 pm on
Monday,
Churkin said
the Council
will have
consultations
again on the
Moroccan
draft. Watch
this site.
A
fast
transcript of
Amb. Churkin's
stakeout, by a
friend on
Inner City
Press:
Inner
City Press:
the country
[you seem to
be mentioning]
is part of
Quartet, how
would the
dynamic be
different
there?
Amb. Churkin:
Well, we have
proposed--
Minister
Lavrov, as you
probably know,
has proposed
that there be
an urgent
meeting of the
Quartet at the
Ministerial
level. We
believe that
it is a
mistake that
the Quartet
has been
inactive for
such a long
time. Frankly,
it may well me
that lack of
international
activity and
lack of
activity from
the Quartet
contributed to
this
atmosphere if
instability
which allowed
the current
dramatic
situation to
come about, so
in order to
reverse the
sort of
current
military trend
in the region
in the
relations
between Israel
and the
Palestinians,
Palestinians
especially
living in
Gaza, we
believe that
diplomatic
efforts need
to be
intensified.
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