Observer
State Vote for
Palestine
Could End
UNRWA, Sources
Say, Tricky Colombia
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 20
-- While the
UN on
September 19
told Inner
City
Press it has
"carefully
sidestepped"
whether
Palestine as
an Observer
State could
automatically
join the
International
Criminal
Court, within
the UN of
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon are
worries
that if
Palestine is
declared a
statement, the
UN Relief and
Works Agency
for Palestine
Refugees in
the Near East
(UNRWA)
apparatus
would have to
be dismantled
as the
Palestinians
would not
longer be
"stateless."
After
the chief of
the UN Treaty
Section Gabriele
Goettsche-Wanli
on
September 16
told Inner
City Press
that Ban
Ki-moon
would have to
decide if
Palestine is a
state for
purposes of
the ICC's Rome
Statute,
Ban's
spokesman on
September 19
refused to
confirm this,
claiming
instead that
the question
had been
"carefully
sidestepped."
A simple
review of the
September
16 UN webcast
shows that the
question was,
in fact,
answered,
based on the
UN
Office of
Legal Affairs
written
statement of
Practice.
While
much focus
has gone to
which Security
Council
members beyond
the United
States
would vote
against or
abstain on
Palestinian
membership in
the UN --
"Colombia is
tricky," one
well placed
Polital
Coordinator
told Inner
City Press as
an example on
Monday -- the
impact on the
large UNRWA
structure has
been much less
talked about.
But
some long time
UN
hands say that
the premise of
the UNRWA
operations is
that the
Palestinians
are stateless,
and that a
vote in the
General
Assembly
to grant
non-member
Observer State
status could
end that --
and
UNRWA. Watch
this site.
Ban & then
UNRWA D-G
AbuZayd,
disAssembly
not shown
From
the
UN's September
19 transcript:
Inner
City
Press: there
was press
conference
here on Friday
by the head of
the Treaty
Section. And
she seemed to
be saying —
and I just
want
you to confirm
this — that
based on an
Office of
Legal Affairs…
its practice
on filings,
that it is up
to the
Secretary-General
to
decide if an
applicant, for
example, to
join the
International
Criminal Court
is a State.
That it is his
determination
to be made,
in
consultation
with the GA.
And I just --
Spokesperson
Martin
Nesirky: Well,
I am privy to
what happened
at the press
conference,
and I know
that that
topic of any
application in
this
regard was
carefully
sidestepped
because this
was not the
topic of
the press
conference.
So, let’s try
any… are there
any other
questions
related to the
readout that
I’ve just
given?
, 
in