In
UN Middle East
Debate,
Feltman on
Palestine
Status, Syria
on Mali, of
Post-Nobel EU
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 15,
updated -- Day
long UN
Security
Council
debates on the
Middle East
happen every
three months
now. Still
half way
through
Monday's
debate a
Permanent
Representative
complained to
Inner City
Press,
"there's
nothing new
this time!"
But
around the
edges there
were some
differences,
inevitably.
The European
Union's Nobel
Peace Prize,
for example,
was raised by
Bangladesh's
Permanent
Representative
Monem, who
said that
after the
prize the EU
bears more
responsibility
for peace in
the Middle
East.
This
apparently had
an impact, at
least in the
Security
Council. After
Sri
Lanka
Permanent
Representative
Palitha Kohona
finished, the
Council
Presidency
said thank you
to "the
Permanent
Representative
of
Bangladesh,"
and then
corrected.
Pakistan's
new
Permanent
Representative
Masood Khan
said that
Palestine
should
retain its
primacy in
these UN
debates and
not be
sidelined. The
next
speaker,
Gerard Araud
of France,
began "First,
Syria."
Syria's
Permanent
Representative
Bashar
Ja'afari ended
the morning
session
with a
flourish,
accusing the
Council of
double
standards in
acting
against
terrorists in
Mali, but for
them in Syria.
But the
Council is
not really
acting on the
take-over of
north Mali,
anyway, at
least
not yet.
Under
Secretary
General
Jeffrey
Feltman began
the morning
saying, among
other things,
that with
Palestine
asking for
Observer State
status
and Israel
opposed, the
issue should
be dealt with
"constructively."
Inner
City Press
went to the
noon briefing
and asked
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman
Martin Nesirky
to unpack
this: is it
entirely up
to member
states, as
Team Ban has
said on other
things, or
does the
Secretariat
disfavor
Palestine's
proposed
upgrade in
status?
Nesirky
acknowledged
that it is up
to member
states. One
continues to
wonder
about the word
"constructive,"
then.
Egypt's
Permanent
Representative
Mootaz
Ahmadein
Khalil went
though six
points -- the
sixth was
about Syria --
and said "we
expect the
General
Assembly to
adopt a
resolution
during its
current
session to
upgrade the
status of
Palestine to
become a
'non-member
observer
state,' as a
first step
towards
reaching full
membership."
Palestine's
Riyad
Mansour said
the request
for status
upgrade will
be made "as
soon as
possible;" on
Friday, a
diplomat in
the UN's North
Lawn
building said
that will be
in later
November,
"after the US
elections."
Israel's
Ron
Prosor called
for
"constructive
solutions, not
destructive
resolutions."
Neither spoke
before UN
Television at
the
stakeout.
Saudi
Arabia's
Permanent
Representative
called on the
"Finnish
facilitator"
to hurry and
send out
invitations
for the
prospective
Nuclear Free
Middle East
conference, so
it can happen
this year.
(After his
speech, he
told Inner
City Press
that there are
issues about
both Israel
and Iran, but
the the
Finnish
facilitator
should just
send out the
invitations,
it is already
late.)
One
wondered if
the
nationality of
the
facilitator,
and
now doubts
about the
conference,
might have any
impact on
Thursday's
Security
Council
elections, in
which Finland
vies with
Luxembourg and
Australia for
two two-year
seats.
Australia's
Permanent
Representative
arrived to
speak at 5 pm,
when the above
was
published. He
was the only
one of these
three
contestants on
the
speakers list.
Turkey's
outgoing
Permanent
Representative
Apakan also
arrived.
Update:
Turkey's
Apakan cited,
among other
things, the
Russell
Tribunal on
Palestine.
After their
session in New
York earlier
this month,
Inner City
Press asked UN
spokesman
Martin Nesirky
for comment or
response, but
there was
none.
Before
Turkey's
Apakan spoke,
Pakistan's new
Permanent
Representative
Masood Khan
returned to
the Security
Council
chamber. The
explanation
given to Inner
City Press was
"Pakistani -
Turkish
cooperation."
Another
delegation
explained it
goes back at
least to the
1950s... Watch
this site.
, 
