On
ATT, Palestine
is Said to
"Fold Like on
Goldstone
Report"
by NAM
Hardliner
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
July 3 --
After stalling
the UN
Conference on
the Arms Trade
Treaty for a
day standing
up for their
rights to
participate
under
the "all
states"
formula,
Palestine on
Tuesday
"accepted
a bad
compromise," a
long time
Palestine
supporter told
Inner
City Press.
"They
are
losing
credibility
with NAM," the
source said,
referring to
the
Non-Aligned
Movement.
"It's like
what they did
on the
Goldstone
Report. They
get
threatened,
and they fold.
Referral to
the
Credentials
Committee?
That's
bureaucracy.
They folded."
In fairness,
Inner City
Press points
out that
Palestine did
not fold in
any way on Law
of the Sea,
and became
members. So
what happened
here?
Yesterday,
an hour
after Inner
City Press
wrote the
first
exclusive
story about
how the
opening of the
UN Conference
on the Arms
Trade Treaty
Monday morning
was stalling
by the
question of
Palestine,
Riyad Mansour
explained
more to Inner
City Press in
the North Lawn
building.
"The
whole
conference, we
had on the
side an
emergency
meeting of the
NAM
caucus in the
Indonesian
Lounge...
Palestine's
name magically
floated
over the
General
Assembly
chamber and it
landed between
Palau and
Panama."
The
issue
is whether the
ATT is under
the "All
States"
format.
The
Palestinian
say this was
decided, in
their favor,
on February
17,
2012.
But
then, they
say, the
Office of
Legal Affairs
under Patricia
O'Brien is
trying to
block them.
There is talk
of
negotiating.
But if the law
is
clear, why not
just get a
ruling?
Inner
City
Press reviewed
General
Assembly
resolutions
defining the
All
States format,
from 1973:
specifically
November 16
and December
12
and 14. It is
related to the
so-called
Vienna format:
UN member
states and
members of the
specialized
agencies (like
UNESCO, which
Palestine
joined.)
And
now this.
Watch this
site.
, 
