If
Palestine Wins
UN Observer
State Status,
Joining ICC
to Refer
Israel Would
Go Through Ban
Ki-moon, No
Presser in 3
Months
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 6 --
What's at
stake if
Palestine in
the UN
General
Assembly seeks
enhanced
Observer State
status? One
thing is
Palestine's
possible
membership in
the
International
Criminal Court
and the
ability to
refer to the
ICC alleged
crimes
committed by
Israel in Gaza
and the West
Bank.
The
legal adviser
of a large
European state
highlighted
this to Inner
City Press,
predicting
that once the
Palestinians
won Observer
State status
with
130 or so
votes, they
would file a
request to
become party
to the
ICC's Rome
Statute with
UN Security
General's top
lawyer,
Patricia
O'Brien.
It
was said that
while O'Brien
might want
otherwise, ICC
membership for
"States"
is
straightforward
even if they
are not
members of the
UN, as
Switzerland
until recently
was not.
Inner
City Press
on September 6
asked
Switzerland's
Permanent
Representative
to the UN
Paul Seger if
Palestine
would be able
to join the
ICC if granted
Observer State
status.
Seger
replied with
a series of
questions:
"Does that
automatically
then allow
Palestine to
become a
member of an
international
treaty? Each
treaty
has its own
conditions and
prerogatives
for joining
such an
instrument. It
is up to the
member states
of each
international
instrument to
decide whether
or not the
conidtions are
met to become
a party of
that treaty."
Seger
turned and
asked a Swiss
mission
staffer, "In
case of ICC,
who is the
depository?"
The
Swiss staffer
replied, "The
Secretary
General."
Seger
concluded,
"So it will be
the S-G who
will determine
whether or not
Palestine is
qualified to
join that."
Ban
&
Netanyahu
shake, Ban
answer on ICC
for Palestine
not shown
Ban
Ki-moon has
not held a
sit-down
question and
answer session
with the press
at UN
headquarters
for some time
-- despite a
commitment to
do them at
least monthly,
the last one
appears to be
a full three
months ago, on
June
6.
When Ban held
a stakeout
upon gaining a
second term,
his spokesman
went out of
his way to
call on the
UN's
own radio
station for a
softball
question.
In stakeout's
since, he
and his team
have excluded
obvious tough
questions.
Ban's top
lawyer
Patricia
O'Brien has
denied several
requests to
come and give
a briefing. It
is not in
substance a
hypothetical
question: what
will Ban's UN
do?
Watch this
site.
* * *
As
UN
Fails to Pass
Israel or Gaza
Statements,
Palestine Says
May Be
Military
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 19 --
After the UN Security
Council broke
up its Friday
meeting
without
agreeing on
any statements,
Inner City
Press asked
the Permanent
Observer of
Palestine
Riyad Mansour
if the
killings in
southern
Israel
constituted a
terrorist
attack."
Mansour
replied, "If
there are
clashes
involving
military
forces on both
sides... it
would be
difficult to
have anyone
make any
description...
without
knowing all
the facts." Video
here, from
Minute 5:35.
Inner
City Press
earlier on
Friday
reported
exclusively,
on this
argument that
since there
was a bus
containing
Israeli
soldiers, it
was not a
terrorist
attack, and
that a
separate
statement on
Gaza was being
proposed. At
the stakeout,
Inner City
Press asked
Mansour if
Palestine
could have
lived, or
could still
live, with two
statements.
"Two
separate
statements to
be adopted
together," he
said, "today,
was not
accepted."
Inner
City Press
asked if he
thought the
Security
Council might
have to
reconvene this
weekend.
"It
depends if
they want to
exploit this
incident to
look for an
escapegoat for
social
pressures
inside Israel,
and what we'll
be doing in
September,"
Mansour
replied, "if
there are
extremists on
part of the
Israelis, and
maybe other
extremists, to
divert from
issues they
are facing, it
might be
convenient to
intensify the
fighting... in
Gaza." Video here,
from Minute
10:57.
Mansour at
stakeout Aug
19, Lebanon
not shown
While
US Deputy
Permanent
Representative
Rosemary
DiCarlo at
least came out
to issue a
short
statement that
it was
unfortunate a
standard
anti-terror
statement
could not be
agreed to,
Lebanon's
delegation did
not come out
to speak.
Later Inner
City Press was
told Lebanon's
position is
that it
offered to
"meet the US
half way," and
have two
statements.
Lebanon should
speak more.
Watch this
site.
, 
in