On
Palestine, UN
Memo Confirmed
Its Name &
Rights to
Participate
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS, March
15 -- The
legal status
of Palestine
is addressed
in an
internal
UN memorandum
dated December
21, 2012 but
not made
public
until today,
by Inner City
Press, here.
In
the memo, by
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's top
lawyer
Patricia
O'Brien, it is
said for
example that
the State of
Palestine,
following the
General
Assembly vote
of November
29, 2012,
should be
able to fully
participate in
all UN
conferences
under the “All
States” or the
“Vienna
Formula.”
Inner
City Press has
exclusively
reported on
Palestine's
bid to be a
vice
chair of the
upcoming Arms
Trade Treaty
talks, a
status that
sources
say was
advised
against by the
Secretariat in
closed door
consultations.
Finally
Palestine
withdrew its
candidacy, and
told
Inner City
Press
it seeks to
sit not
between Palau
and Panama,
which did not
vote for its
upgrade, but
rather Sri
Lanka and
Sudan
which did.
(We've dubbed
this, ICC
corner.)
The
name plate
“State of
Palestine” to
which US
Ambassador
Susan Rice
objected in
the Security
Council was
permitted by
the O'Brien
memo
The
memo, directed
to Ban and top
UN system
officials such
as Herve
Ladsous of
Peacekeeping
and Jeffrey
Feltman of the
Department of
Political
Affairs,
states that it
is “not for
distribution
to
member states
or to the
media.”
Don't
member states
OWN the UN? By
what right did
O'Brien seek
to keep this
legal ruling
private?
Recently,
Inner
City Press has
repeatedly
requested an
explanation of
the legal
basis for the
UN's ruling
that claims
that it
brought
cholera to
Haiti were
“not
receivable.”
But no
explanation
has been
provided.
O'Brien has
been named
Ireland's
Ambassador to
the UN in
Geneva. But
this memo on
Palestine
stands, we are
exclusively
making
it public here.
Watch this
site.
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