On
Palestine, US
Pressure Gets
Pacific
Abstentions,
Scorn
at Slovenia,
ICC Games
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 29, updated
Nov 30 --
When finally
the UN
resolution on
Palestine
as an Observer
State came to
a vote, it
passed with
138 in favor,
41
abstentions
and only nine
against.
Inner City
Press had
predicted
ten negative
votes, even
days before
the vote.
But things
change.
Ultimately
the
negative nine
were the US,
Palau,
Micronesia,
Marshall
Islands.
Panama, Nauru,
Canada, Israel
and the Czech
Republic.
Sources in the
EU tell Inner
City Press
that the
Czechs were
flirting with
abstention,
but fell back
to no.
There
were 138 votes
in favor, and
41
abstentions.
List here.
A
well placed
European
Permanent
Representative,
speaking
exclusively
to Inner City
Press,
expressed
particular
scorn for
Slovenia,
which
after almost
voting Yes,
ending up
abstaining.
He told Inner
City Press the
Slovenian
mission at the
UN in New York
pushed for a
Yes vote, but
couldn't get
the capital to
agree. And not
having an
Ambassador
here, he said,
was
a problem.
US
pressure
didn't get
even ten "no"
votes. But
many Pacific
Island states
abstained.
And, it was
noted, Liberia
did not show
up.
But neither
did Ukraine, nor
Madagascar.
Two of these
three
accounted for
small gap
between
Palestinian
Mission's
internal
projection of
140, and the
final 138 Yes
votes.
After
the vote,
Inner City
Press asked UK
Ambassador
Mark Lyall
Grant about
his statement
about
abstaining
because he
could not get
assurances
such
as Palestine
not rushing to
the
International
Criminal
Court.
Doesn't
this cheapen
the ICC and
make it look
like a
political chip
to be
played?
Lyall
Grant gamely
answered that
the assurances
sought were in
order to
permit the
peace process.
Inner
City Press
asked the
Ambassador of
Sudan, which
introduced
Palestine's
resolution as
this month's
head of the
Arab Group and
whose
president Omar
al Bashir is
under ICC
indictment for
genocide,
about the UK's
position.
He replied
that it is
strange that a
country that
is a member of
the ICC would
ask another
not to take a
case there.
Indonesia's
Foreign
Minister, when
asked by Inner
City Press if
the blockage
of
Palestine from
UN membership
by the US veto
in the
Security
Council
militates for
reform said,
the rules are
the rules. But
for how long?
One wanted to
ask him about
the Rohingya
in Myanmar.
Next time.
When
Palestine's
Rial Malki
came to speak,
Inner City
Press asked
him
about the ICC.
He said that
if Israel
doesn't
continue with
settlements
and
aggression,
then Palestine
won't go to
the ICC. And
if they do?
Watch this
site.
One
wag joked that
perhaps Hamas,
for Gaza,
could go to
ICC.
Footnote:
more transient
insights
remain on
Inner City
Press' Twitter
feed, here.
Update:
... where
you'll find
this Inner
City Press
photograph
in GA November
30, State of
Palestine:
, 
