At
UN,
Proposal for 2
Statements on
Gaza and
Israel
Attacks,
Terrorist Or
Not?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 19 --
As Lebanon and
the US met
during a break
in
Security
Council break
consultations,
the idea of
separate Press
Statements on
the attacks in
southern
Israel, and in
Gaza, was
floated.
"Caroline
has
a good point,"
a Council
source told
Inner City
Press,
referring
to Lebanon
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
Caroline
Ziade. "She
said that the
death of a
baby on either
side has to be
treated the
same way."
Ziade
met with US
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
Rosemary
DiCarlo, as
Perm Rep Susan
Rice is away
from the UN.
Palestinian
Permanent
Observer Riyad
Mansour
confirmed to
Inner City
Press there's
discussion in
the
Council to not
call the
attack on a
bus containing
Israeli
soldiers a
"terrorist"
attack.
On
the issue of
Israel's
settlements,
it seems
unlikely to
make it into
any Council
statement at
this time,
since there is
a Council
debate on "the
Middle East"
coming up. But
terrorism, or
just attacks,
just be
condemned
relatively
quickly, the
argument goes.
But are they
terrorist?
Watch this
site.
* * *
At
UN,
Resistance to
Calling Attack
in Israel
"Terrorist,"
As
Soldiers On
Board
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 19 --
As the Security
Council met
behind closed
doors
Friday about
the attacks in
southern
Israel,
sources in the
meeting
told Inner
City Press of
a move to
remove from
the US
introduced
draft Press
Statement the
characterization
as "terrorist"
the shooting
at a bus with
Israeli
soldiers on
it.
"It's
going
to be a long
meeting," one
of the sources
said. Beyond
the move
to strip out
the word
"terrorist,"
there's a
proposal to
condemn
Israel's
actions after
the attack.
Palestinian
Observer Riyad
Mansour told
the Press that
Israel has
killed eight
civilians in
the
Gaza Strip,
including two
children.
Asked
if he
thought the
briefing by UN
Assistant
Secretary
General Oscar
Fernandez
Taranco was
even handed,
Mansour
responded with
a question:
do you think
it might not
be fair?
That
was the
implication of
Syrian
Permanent
Representative
Bashar
Ja'afari on
August 18,
when he told
the Press that
while he had
given
information
about
developments
in his country
to the UN
Secretariat,
some did not
pass it on to
the Security
Council.
Another
source
inside the
Council
meeting
derived
Taranco's
briefing as
being based
only on "open
source"
information,
meaning
surfing the
Internet. We
shouldn't be
making
decision on
this scanty
information,
the Council
source said.
But so it goes
at the UN.
Watch this
site.
* * *
With
Israel
Statement
Stalled at UN,
3 Views of
Lebanon: Quid
Pro Quo?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 19 --
After the
attack in
southern
Israel, a
boilerplate
draft press
statement of
condemnation
was circulated
in
the UN
Security
Council. But,
Western
spokespeople
complain to
the
Press, Lebanon
balked, saying
that language
about the
wider Israel -
Palestine
issue should
be included.
The
first
critique of
this, from a
Western
permanent
member of the
Council, is
that all that
is proposed is
the same
standard
statement as
issued
recently on
the attacks in
Israel.
Another
Western
critique, from
more
pro-Palestinian
European
nation not
currently on
the Security
Council, is
that Lebanon
is erring by
trying to link
the
Palestinians,
or "all
Palestinians,"
to the
attacks:
"Leave
them out of
it."
Some
interested
member states
complain they
can't get a
straight
answer from
the
Lebanese
Mission to the
UN, there are
different
views, here
and back
in Beirut.
Inner City
Press asked a
representative
of the
Lebanese
Mission, who
said that any
statement
"should be
balanced."
They
returned with
a
new argument
for blocking
the proposed
statement on
the attack:
since
"the
Americans"
never want a
Council
statement
condemning
"settler
violence,"
nothing should
come out on
this one. "But
then you know
what the
Israelis will
say."
Earlier
in the week,
Israel's
Permanent
Representative
to the UN Ron
Prosor told
reporters that
“[The
Palestinians]
have climbed
on a tree and
the higher
they climb the
higher they
request a
ladder. What
is going to
happen in the
end is
that they will
fall from the
tree – but
they won’t
just hurt
themselves,
they will
[hurt]
everyone else
in the
vicinity....The
United
States has
articulated
their position
that they
would veto
such a
resolution at
the Security
Council. So if
that is the
case,
there is no
way the
Palestinians
will become a
new member of
the
United
Nations. Then
there is the
General
Assembly, a
quest on the
Palestinian
side to
upgrade their
position...That
upgrade will
not
change
anything,
except in the
United Nations
itself."
Inner
City Press
asked Prosor
about
the Durban III
event slated
for September
21. He called
it
“anti-Semitic
and racist”
and praised
the "boycott"
declared by
the US,
Canada, Czech
Republic,
Italy and the
Netherlands.
These were
quotes
approved for
release by the
Israeli
Mission.
Meanwhile on
Friday
morning,
Palestinian
Observer Riyad
Mansour told
the Press, I
will be back
to
speak, tell
you
colleagues!
And so it goes
at the UN.
Update
of 11:29 am --
Palestine's
Mansour told
the Press
there will be
a (closed)
Council
meeting on
Friday
afternoon; he
said eight
civilians have
been killed in
Gaza including
two children,
wants a
statement on
that.
Inner City
Press asked if
Palestine
wants it all
in a single
consolidated
statement.
Let's see, he
said, we don't
want to
negotiate
against
ourselves.
, 
in