Draft
on Attacks on
Israel
Diplomats
Stalled as
Silence
Broken,
Info Sharing
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 23,
updated 4:17
pm -- Seven
days ago now,
Israel's
ambassador Ron
Prosor
complained
that the UN
"Security
Council should
have
condemned
these attacks
immediately.
Israel expects
it to issue a
clear
condemnation
today."
On
Wednesday
evening Inner
City Press reported
that a draft
statement
circulated
by Togo as
Council
President had
been put under
silence
procedure
ending
Thursday at
noon.
Now
we can report
that "silence
has been
broken,"
according to
multiple
Council
sources.
India, for
example, wants
the text to
make clear
that not only
should member
states help
Israel
investigate
but also
India, which
should be
given any
information
found about
the attack
in New Delhi.
Others
said that
the events in
Bangkok and
Tblisi
shouldn't yet
be called
terrorist
attacks. The
Permanent
Representative
of Azerbaijan
noted to Inner
City Press
that there had
been a plot in
his country,
it was stopped
early and is
not in the
statement.
The
sponsor of the
statement told
the Press that
Russia, which
broke silence,
and the
United States
are meeting
bilaterally to
see if a
revised text
can be
put under a
new silence
procedure.
Update
of 3:12 pm:
a new draft,
not naming
particular
countries to
cooperate
with, was put
under silence
under 3 pm.
Now a well
placed Council
sources tells
Inner City
Press no one
silence, "so
it's done."
Update
of 4:17 pm:
the final
press
statement was
e-mailed out;
it included
only the New
Delhi and
Tblisi
attacks, with
Bangkok being
omitted. Why
did Togo, as
President, not
go and read it
at the
stakeout,
which Togo has
not gone all
month?
Apparently
Israel so much
wanted it
released, it
stayed after
its Women,
Peace and
Security
speech until
the statement
was sent out.
Hands on.
In other
regional news,
at the UN's
Thursday noon
briefing,
Inner City
Press asked
about
criticism and
attacks on
UNRWA in Tyre,
for neglecting
to provide a
hospital
referral to a
Lebanese woman
who died. The
Office of the
Spokesperson,
typically,
"had nothing."
There
still
remains
surprise as
the "weakness"
of Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon
response, a
"mere" note to
correspondents.
Sources
in the
Executive
Office of the
Secretary
General
indicated that
this
is because
"nobody died."
Ban has issued
stronger
statements,
the complaint
goes, in cases
in which no
one was
actually
killed. Now
Ban has set
off on a trip
not only to
London but
also
Zambia and
Angola.
Ambassador
Prosor
came to the
Security
Council on
Tuesday
afternoon;
Israel was on
the
list of
speakers in
the all day
debate on
crime and the
Sahel. He
assigned blame
-- saying that
Hezbollah is
active in West
Africa. And
now... the
start and stop
Togolese
solution.
Watch this
site.
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