UN's
Gaza Meeting Results Only in a Summary, Iran Resolution Still Slated for
Monday Vote
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS, March 2 -- A
Security
Council meeting about Gaza which extended past midnight resulted in
a whittled-down summary read to the press by the Council's president for
March, Russia's Ambassador Vitaly Churkin. Even those this typo-filled
text was described as "not a press statement," it was negotiated among
the Council's 15 members. In the end, all they did was "take note" of
the short statement that Ban Ki-moon had read three hours before, and
"underscore the need for all parties to immediately case all acts of
violence." That is not the same as a ceasefire, a spokesperson asked to
be called a Western diplomat said.
So, in today's Security Council,
a summary to the media is not a press statement, and ceasing acts of
violence is not a ceasefire. But then who or what is a terrorist? That
word, used by Ban Ki-moon, was stricken from the summary to the press,
after which Amb. Churkin took no questions. Reporters were left to
wonder, who is behind the specifics of the Secretariat's speech, with
its use of the "T word," and double-deployment of condemnation. UN
political chief Lynn Pascoe was not seen Saturday at the Council. His
deputy Angela Kane was going to speak, then was replaced by Ban Ki-moon.
Chief of staff Vijay Nambiar was in the house. And at the end, Egypt's
Ambassador spoke at the stakeout, criticizing Ban for his previously
vague answer about whether Gaza is occupied territory. This can't bode
well for the UN's budget supplement, set at $1.1 billion, or other
things on which Ban needs votes.
Vitaly Churkin: when is a
summary to the media not a press statement?
The subtext Saturday night was
the link between the
pending
resolution to impose sanctions on Iran, and the Libyan-introduced
resolution about Gaza. "That is not balanced," U.S. Ambassador
Khalilizad said on his way out of the Council. Asked about timing, he
said "we'll vote [on the Iran resolution] on Monday," then we'll see
about a resolution on Gaza. So, rather than the link urged earlier in
the evening, of Libya and others demanding action on Gaza before a vote
or abstention on Iran, the matter has been inverted. Iran before Gaza.
Inner City Press asked South
African Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo about the Iran resolution. We were
joking inside, he said, to vote on Iran tonight, just get it out of the
way now. But according to the U.S., that vote is on for Monday. We'll
see.
Media analysis:
most of those covering Saturday's Council session said that their
editors wouldn't allow them to include the fine distinction between
press statement and aural summary, even though Council President Vitaly
Churkin emphasized the difference, and the Syrian Ambassador said, "They
didn't even do a press statement." A Permanent Five spokesperson
explained that there have in fact been two kinds of press statements: a
negotiated statement, and an off-the-cuff summary delivered by the
Council President. This was, the spokesperson said, the first time a
summary was so closely negotiated. Duly noted.
But since
Amb. Churkin confirmed that all 15 member has agreed to the short
summary, suddenly media looking for a lede could say, the Council called
for a cessation of all acts of violence -- making the night's Council
work sound more affirmative and productive than it really was.
* * *
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$200,000 contribution from an undefined trust fund.
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