At
UN, Weakness
of Quartet on
Palestine
Decried, Blair
& Syria in
the Wings
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, July
25 -- As the
Security
Council
gathered
Wednesday for
its periodic
group therapy
on the Middle
East "and the
questions
of Palestine,"
with 41
speakers
signed up,
topics ranged
from
Syria and the
bombing in
Bulgaria to
the Quartet,
Palestine's
debt
and Israel's
treatment of
migrants.
UN
envoy Robert
Serry spoke
first, saying
among other
things that
the
Palestinian
Authority owes
some $1.1
billion to
banks, which
he did
not identify.
Palestine's
Observer
Riyad Mansour,
his arm in a
sling, ranged
from
detentions to
settlements to
a denunciation
of the
"so-called
'Levy
Committee
report,' a
right wing,
Israeli
government
appointed
committee
that...
recommends the
Israel
legalize
'outposts,' a
recommendation
that
defies
international
law."
Mansour
ended
by telling
July's
Security
Council
president
Nestor Osorio
of
Colombia,
"Muchas
gracias."
Israel's
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
Heim Waxman
began with the
bombing in
Bulgaria --
whose
Permanent
Representative
has yet to
express
agreement with
Israel's
theory of the
case -- and
shifts to the
treatment of
bloggers in
the West Bank,
adding that
the
International
Monetary Fund
says the GDP
in Gaza grew
20 percent in
2011.
The
US was
represented by
Jeffrey
DeLaurentis,
who started
with Syria and
chemical
weapons,
shifted to
Lebanon and
then to
"comprehensive
Middle East
peace." Might
this include a
Security
Council trip
to Palestine?
One wag said,
"Not before
November."
Pakistan
brought
up the trip
and
invitation,
saying that
the trip
should take
place.
France's
Gerard
Araud
speechified
about Syria,
saying that
France will
continue to
support the
opposition,
including on
the ground.
One
wondered, as
in Libya,
where France
air dropped
weapons into
the
Nafusa
mountains,
while now
presenting
itself with
clean hands in
the
Arms Trade
Treaty talks?
South
Africa's Baso
Sangqu
extended
things into
Israel's
treatment of
African
migrants, and
then asked the
question of
the UN's weak
role
in the
Quartet. We
note,
including on
the issue of
Palestine's
debt
to banks, that
Quartet envoy
Tony Blair is
also back by
JPMorgan
Chase.
When
the Council
broke for
lunch at 1:30,
ten Arab
Ambassador
came to the
televised
stake out.
Mansour asked
Inner City
Press, "Where
are
your
colleagues?"
But after
Saudi Arabia's
Permanent
Representative
read a
statment
denouncing
settlements
and saying the
Security
Council trip
should take
place, he
tried to leave
without
taking any
questions.
"What
about the
Quarter,"
Inner City
Press asked,
"should it
continue?"
The
Saudi
Ambassador
stopped and
replied, it
should
continue, but
take up
its
responsibilities.
Syria,
it should be
noted, as not
in this line
up, but is
scheduled to
speak
inside the
Security
Council on
Wednesday
afternoon.
They often
note
that sessions
said to be on
Palestine are
taking into
other issues,
now mostly
Syria itself.
Expect
fireworks --
watch this
site.
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