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As Olmert Brags of UN's Rocket
Focus, Ban Loses Voice, Jordan Truck Said Missing
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of
Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED
NATIONS, January 21 -- As
Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert brags that he got a commitment from
the
UN's Ban Ki-moon that "any UN investigation of the damage resulting
from
the war in Gaza includes the damage Palestinian-fired rockets caused in
Israel's south," Ban's spokesperson Michele Montas on Wednesday said
the
first investigation Ban is asking for is by Israel itself. The steps
after that
aren't clear, Ms. Montas said. Mr. Ban couldn't speak for himself. He
has
cancelled a press availability, and will reportedly only appear at the
Security
Council, but not speak. "Cat got your tongue, Ban Ki-Mute?" one wag
snarked. Laryngitis, a more serious source told Inner City Press.
Inner City Press asked Ms. Montas to confirm a
Ha'aretz report that Ban
had agreed to Olmert's request. She nodded and confirmed, but upon
follow-up
questions acknowledged that Ban does not control what investigations
are done.
Questioned repeatedly about negative comments in the region about Ban,
Ms.
Montas said that a person who cannot be accused of not having the
interest of
Gazans at heart has praised Ban's performance.
It
emerged that Ms. Montas was
referring to the UN system's own John Ging, Gaza chief of the UN Relief
and
Works Agency. While Ging did on January 20 offer effusive praise of Ban
as
articulate and inspiring, it must be noted that Ging is part of the UN.
UN's Ban with Israel's Olmert, commitment to
investigate rockets made, then silence
On the
other hand Robert Fisk, a journalist long covering the region, has
written that
" Ban said it would not be up to him to launch a
war
crimes tribunal. It was pathetic."
Near the end of Wednesday's noon briefing, Ms.
Montas explicitly denied
that Ban has been conveying Israel's conditions to Hamas. Time did not
allow
Inner City Press this follow-up: since Tony Blair has said that the
Quartet, of
which the UN is a part, has said the Quartet will only deal or even
speak with
Hamas if it recognizes Israel, does Blair speak for Ban? Does Ban speak
with
Blair? Today, at least, Ban can't speak.
Footnote:
Inner City Press asked
also about a report, on the Palestinian Ma'an News service, that a
truck of
Jordan-given aid was hijacked and diverted at the Karem Shalom
crossing, and
UNRWA suspended other deliveries. Ms.
Montas said she would get back with an answer, which subsequently
arrived:
Subj:
your question on UNRWA trucks
From:
unspokesperson-donotreply [at] un.org
To:
Matthew Lee [at] innercitypress.com
Sent:
1/21/2009 1:14:22 P.M. Eastern Standard Time
We
haven't seen the media reports you were referring to, and our
colleagues at
UNRWA didn't mention anything like this when we spoke with them right
before
the noon briefing today.
Inner City Press immediately sent the UN
in New York and the OPT a copy
of the Ma'an article about with a request for comment, "if UNRWA does
not
deny the diversion, please explain why the UN has not commented on it,
and UNHQ
says it's unaware of it." Watch this site.
Click here for Inner City Press' Jan.
16, 2009 debate about Gaza
Click here for Inner City Press'
review-of-2008 UN Top Ten debate
Click here for Inner
City Press' December 24 debate on UN budget, Niger
Click here from Inner City Press'
December 12 debate on UN double standards
Click here for Inner
City Press' November 25 debate on Somalia, politics
Click here for Inner City
Press Nov. 7 debate on the war in Congo
Watch this site, and this Oct. 2 debate, on
UN, bailout, MDGs
and this October 17 debate, on
Security Council and Obama and the UN.
* * *
These
reports are
usually also available through Google
News and on Lexis-Nexis.
Click
here
for a Reuters
AlertNet piece by this correspondent
about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click
here
for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali
National
Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an
undefined trust fund. Video
Analysis here
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