Hurry
Up
and Wait at UN
on Palestine
Application,
Ashton Wants
Talks
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 23
-- Palestinian
Friday at the
UN turned out
to
be as
dramatic, or
more, than Mahmoud Abbas
had predicted.
Abbas
turned in
Palestine's
application
for statement
to Ban
Ki-moon, who
passed it
on to the
Lebanese
President of
the Security
Council.
(Inner City
Press is putting
it online,
here.)
Then the
Middle
East Quartet
convened a
2:30 meeting
at the UN,
with convoys
of black
vehicles
screeching up
to the UN as
the UN's top
security
official
ran outside,
following a
dust-up
between
Security and
Turkey inside
the UN.
Following
the
Quartet's
meeting and
statement, the
EU's Catherine
Ashton came to
speak and to
take
questions.
Inner City
Press asked
her if the EU
members on the
Security
Council will
all vote the
same way on
Palestine's
application.
Ashton said
that is not
her focus, she
is
concentrated
on
negotiations
between the
parties that
could lead to
peace for the
two peoples.
Lady Ashton
Sept 23, won't
say how EU
members of
SC'll vote
Just
as Ashton
was finishing
it was
announced that
Nawaf Salam,
President of
the
Security
Council for
September,
would speak at
the Council
stakeout
at 3:30. He
did not take
any question,
but announced
that there
will
be Council
consultations
on Palestine's
application
Monday at 3
pm.
Inner
City Press
asked a member
of the
Lebanese
delegation
about Benyamin
Netanyahu's
statement that
the Security
Council this
month is led
"by
Hezbollah."
After a pause,
the
representative
said, "He
can say what
he wants."
Back
in the North
Lawn building,
after Tony
Blair took to
the
microphone,
Hillary
Clinton
followed but
did not take
any questions.
Will the UN
"have" to
veto? That is
a question.
Watch this
site.
* * *
At
UN
As Abbas Files
for Membership
& Speaks,
Israel &
Susan
Rice Sit Glum
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 23
-- While some
at the UN
thought that
Palestine's
Abbas would
not in fact
file for full
membership,
late
morning Friday
he did just
that. Abbas
handed an
application to
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon, then
headed to the
General
Assembly to
deliver his
speech.
While
Armenia
spoke,
including
about the
"genocide
scholars
community,"
Inner City
Press ran to
the UN
stakeout and
asked Swedish
Foreign
Minister Carl
Bildt about
votes for
Palestinian
statehood.
Bildt said
"it will be
decided in
these
buildings," in
the Security
Council. He
spoke of
caution.
Through
heavy rain
over at the
UN's noon
briefing,
Ban's
spokesman
Martin Nesirky
declined a
request to
provide
"color" about
Ban's meeting
with Abbas,
referring to
the television
footage. He
was asked if
there is a
Middle East
Quartet
meeting in the
afternoon, and
he said
he didn't
know.
Inner
City Press
asked Nesirky
about the role
of UN official
Robert Serry
in the
Quarter. As reported
yesterday
night, Serry
was saying
loudly into
his cell
phone, "He
asked me to
convey a
personal
message to
Lavrov, I need
to reach
Lavrov.""
Nesirky said
Serry
represents
the UN on the
Quartet.
The
General
Assembly hall
was standing
room only, no
one more was
allowed in.
Over in the
new North Lawn
building,
diplomats sat
at marble
coffee
tables
watching
Abbas' speech
on the
Internet. Many
of them
clapped
when the
audience in
the hall
clapped.
Inner
City Press
watched with a
political
adviser in
from Malaysia,
who nodded in
affirmation at
nearly
everything
Abbas said.
"The US will
veto,
it is
shameful," he
said. But are
there nine
affirmative
votes,
which would
then require a
veto to block?
Abbas gets
ready to rock
the House,
Sept 23, 9
votes not
shown
In
the hall in
the
Israel's
seats, the
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
looked
stonefaced.
There was no
sign of
Netanyahu, set
to speak in
less than
an hour, or
Avigdor
Lieberman or
Permanent
Representative
Prosor.
During
a standing
ovation, US
Ambassador
Susan Rice
also remained
seated,
looking glum.
When Abbas
finished, the
unenviable
task of
following him
went to
Japan's new
Prime Minister
Noda, the
self-described
bottom feeder.
And so it goes
at the UN.
, 
in