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On
Gaza, UN's Ban
Calls on Hamas
to Support
Ceasefire Plan
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
July 15, more
here --
How is a
statement of
UN Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon
produced?
On July 15,
ostensibly in
response to
questions, the
UN read out
this:
“The
Secretary
General spoke
with President
Sisi on
Sunday, 13
July. He
appreciates
and fully
supports the
Egyptian
initiative for
a
cease-fire
agreement. He
is deeply
worried that
the fighting
has not
stopped,
despite
Israel's
readiness to
accept the
ceasefire
proposal
and the
Palestinian
Authority's
support. He
calls on Hamas
to
cooperate with
the Egyptian
initiative,
and urges all
sides to build
on this
opening of a
diplomatic
channel. All
parties must
respect
international
humanitarian
law. The UN
will in the
meantime
continue
providing
much-needed
emergency
humanitarian
assistance to
Gaza.”
The serious
question is
why couldn't
the UN come up
with its own
ceasefire
proposal, less
politically
charged than
the position
of Egypian
president
Sisi? This UN
statement,
which one UN
wag called "dutiful,"
is a position
nearly identical
to that of the
US, as was the
ordering and
word choice in
Ban's last
statement of
July 13:
“The
Secretary-General,
abhorring the
images of
Israeli
families
hovering
in shelters in
fear for their
children's
safety,
repeats his
condemnation
of Palestinian
rockets fired
from Gaza and
demands an
immediate
cessation of
these indecent
attacks. The
Secretary-General
is also deeply
worried about
the impact on
Palestinian
families of
Israeli
military
action.”
Several UN
officials
expressed
surprise or
even "disgust...
at putting Israel
first despite
no deaths
versus 180 in
Palestine,
abhorring the
first but only
'deeply
worried' about
Gazans."
And so based
on complaints
and reporting,
Inner City
Press can say
that such
statements are
said to
originate with
a desk officer
in UN
Department of
Political
Affairs, run
by former US
diplomat
Jeffrey Feltman.
Then
they are
reviewed, on
the Middle
East, by
Antonella
Caruso, then
Feltman, then
in Ban's
office one
Andrew
Gilmour.
That's how
this statement
was issued,
Inner City
Press is
informed.
And this one?
On
Palestine
joining or
complaining to
the
International
Criminal
Court, Inner
City Press' question
which Ban
Ki-moon dodged
on July 9,
Prosor did not
answer. Yet.
Watch
this site.
* * *
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reports
are
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News and on Lexis-Nexis.
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