On
Gaza, UN's Ban
Doesn't
Speak to
Abbas, Heads
to Cairo then
Ramallah?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 15 --
While the UN Security
Council
deliberated on
Gaza Wednesday
night,
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon made
two calls:
to Israel's
Netanyahu and
Egypt's Morsi.
At
Thursday's
UN noon
briefing,
Inner City
Press asked
Ban's
spokesman
about a call
NOT made:
Inner
City Press:
calls about
Gaza, maybe I
missed it, but
did he call
Mahmoud Abbas
or try to call
Mahmoud Abbas,
the
Secretary-General?
Spokesperson
Martin
Nesirky: I
have given you
the
conversations
that have
taken
place so far.
Inner
City Press: to
some it seems,
he is the head
of the
Palestinian
Authority, it
seems like an
obvious call
to make, so do
you have any
reasoning?
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
Any other
suggestions,
Matthew?
Inner
City Press: I
am just
asking. Was
there a
reason? Did
you try and
you couldn’t
reach him or
did not try?
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
I think this
goes back to
the point that
Ms. Malcorra
was
making in a
sense. Of
course, and as
I just said
earlier on,
the
Secretary-General
is monitoring
this extremely
closely. And,
of
course, he is
going to be
reaching out
to various
individuals at
different
times. We are
not going to
say precisely
with who and
when. When
these calls
take place,
then we will
be able to let
you
know. And of
course, you
have to
recognize that
some
individuals
may
be quite busy
and cannot
immediately
take phone
calls. It may
be as
prosaic as
that. Any
other
questions?
But
Nesirky did
not allow
Inner City
Press, even
when it asked,
to pose
any more
questions.
Later on
Thursday it
was reported
from Israel
that Ban,
canceling
planned trips
to Mauritius
and
Mozambique,
will
next week
visit Cairo,
Tel Aviv and
Ramallah --
but not Gaza.
Instead,
Morsi
has dispatched
his prime
minister and
others to go
to Gaza in
solidarity.
Meanwhile,
on a White
House call
ostensibly
about
President
Obama's own
trip next week
to Thailand,
Cambodia and
Burma
/ Myanmar, the
Administration
pledged full
support to
Israel's right
to self
defense,
answering that
the use of
ground troops
in Gaza is
up to the
Israelis.
Like
Ban Ki-moon,
the US prefers
de-escalation
but says
it is entirely
or only up to
Hamas.
Click
here
for Inner
City Press' coverage
yesterday of
Egypt
requesting the
Security
Council
meeting before
the
Palestinian
mission did,
and the
struggle for
power and
representation.
Here is
Palestine's
draft
resolution to
become a
non-member
State of the
UN. Watch
this site.
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