On
Gaza, Still
With No
Ceasefire,
UNSC Kicks Can
Down Road, 3
to 6 to 3pm?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 20 --
That the UN
Security
Council is a
backwater,
this week on
Gaza, was
confirmed
several times
on Tuesday. A
9 am
deadline had
been set for
objections to
a press
statement
calling for
a cessation of
violence.
But
as Inner City
Press reported
just after 9
am, an
objection was
made
by the US and
the silence
procedure was
broken -- like
the UN and
Security
Council, some
say.
At Tuesday's
noon
briefing,
Inner City
Press asked
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman
Martin Nesirky
if Ban, in
Israel, had
any comment on
the Security
Council press
statement not
being agreed
to. No, he
said, Ban's
focus
is the (other)
efforts to
achieve a
ceasefire.
In
other cases,
Ban has called
for the
Security
Council to
unite and
take action.
But, some
note, those
cases had
other
countries in
the
position of
opposition.
Morocco
and
Palestine had
said if
silence was
broken, they
would ask for
an
open public
meeting.
Russia has
said if
silence was
broken, it
would
call for a
vote on its
resolution, at
3 pm on
Tuesday.
But
when 3 pm came
around, it was
not a vote,
nor an open
meeting. It
was
a closed door
meeting to
talk about
holding an
open meeting,
at 6pm. This
was explained
to Inner City
Press as being
based on an
expectation,
or hope, of a
ceasefire
being
announced in
Cairo by 5 pm
New York time.
That
already seemed
unlikely at
3pm, and more
and more
unlikely after
that. A
Palestinian
representative
complained to
Inner City
Press,
the ceasefire
is being
delayed
between of
electoral
problems in
Israel. And
attacks will
ramp up
tonight.
So
will the
Council hold a
public meeting
at 6 pm? No,
he predicted.
The
strategy, as
explained to
Inner City
Press, is to
push back the
"final"
decision on an
open meeting
on Gaza until
3 pm on
the Wednesday
before US
Thanksgiving,
giving more
time for a
ceasefire. But
if one is not
reached by
then? Watch
this site.
, 
