Rice
Disputes
"State of
Palestine"
Placard, Malki
Urges Respect,
Serry Mute on
UPR
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 23 --
After Riyad
al-Malki was
welcomed to
the UN
Security
Council
Wednesday as
the Foreign
Minister of
the State of
Palestine, US
Ambassador
Susan Rice
objected.
Rice
said that "the
use of the
term 'State of
Palestine' on
the
placard in the
Security
Council or the
use of the
term 'State of
Palestine' in
the invitation
to this
meeting or
other
arrangements
for
participation
in this
meeting, do
not reflect
acquiescence
that
'Palestine' is
a state."
Afterward,
Inner
City Press
asked Malki
about Rice's
objection.
Malki said
that
all member
states must
respect and
adhere to what
was approved
in the
UN General
Assembly on
November 29,
2012, even if
they voted
against
it or
abstained.
Inner
City Press
asked Malki
about the
visit of US
envoy David
Hale. Malki
nodded and
said he hopes
that John
Kerry will
make Palestine
his
first visit as
Secretary of
State.
Kerry,
of
course, is not
yet confirmed:
his hearing is
on January 24
in the
Senate. There
on January 23,
Hillary
Clinton was
parrying
questions
from Senator
Corker about
the killings
in Benghazi,
including
about
Rice's
statements on
Sunday morning
television
shows about
them.
To
watch the UN
Security
Council
"debate" in
person, and
the
Senate's
Benghazi
hearings on
the Internet
was surreal.
Hillary Clinton
recounted
discussing
Benghazi while
at the UN for
a meeting
about the
Sahel and Mali
- before
France's
Serval.
As
Rice left the
Security
Council she
was asked if
her objection
had
been
spontaneous.
She shook her
head and said
sarcastically,
sure, I
freelance in
the Council.
But
Russia's
Vitaly
Churkin, who
immediately
followed Rice
with a
reference to
the State of
Palestine,
indicated that
he had
modified
his
presentation
to address
what had just
occurred.
UN
envoy Robert
Serry, asked
about what
some call
Placard-Gate,
said
that the UN
Secretariat is
guided by
member states
and their vote
on
November 29.
He
said he had to
leave; on his
way out Inner
City Press
asked if he as
UN envoy
thought Israel
should not put
off its
scheduled
January 29
Universal
Periodic
Review in the
UN Human
Rights Council
in Geneva.
Serry
smiled but
declined to
answer the
question --
strange for a
UN
official,
given the
claims made
about what a
reform the UPR
process
is, or was.
Israel
for its part,
through its
Permanent
Representative
Ron Prosor,
said it
doesn't take
Sherlock
Holmes or the
NYPD to find
the
fingerprints
of senior PA
officials on
the protests
in E1. And so
it goes at the
UN. Watch this
site.
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