For
Palestine
in UN SC Only
6 Votes,
Sources Say,
Mere Update in
2 Weeks
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 30
-- For Palestine
on Friday in
the UN
Security
Council's
Committee on
Admission of
New Members
there were
only six
of the fifteen
members who
wanted to push
forward on
Palestine's
application
for full UN
membership.
With
this
surprisingly
low vote
count, the
majority
decided that
the Committee
will meet at a
lower level,
and merely
"update" the
Security
Council in
about two
weeks.
There is,
sources told
Inner
City Press, no
assurance even
of a formal or
listed meeting
about the
update; it
could be
quietly done
under "Other
Matters."
A
source in the
meeting told
Inner City
Press that it
was not only
power, but
numbers. Of
the nine
Council
members which
have
recognized
Palestine,
three have
been viewed as
shaky:
Nigeria, Gabon
and Bosnia,
due to
the Republica
Srbska portion
of its
government.
For
the
pro-Palestinian
membership
vote count to
be only six at
Friday's
meeting, it
means that all
three broke
the other way.
Some insisted
that they
support
Palestine "in
principle" --
but as one of
the stronger
six supporters
put it, it
comes down to
supporting a
piece of
paper, and for
that there
were only six.
Palestinian
Observer
Riyad Mansour
came to the
stakeout and
made a
statement in
English, then
as journalists
tried to ask
questions
Mansour
himself
asked,
"Arabic?
Doesn't anyone
read Arabic?"
He then
repeated the
statement in
Arabic and
left without
taking any
questions.
While
Gabon has
not filed a
"reservation"
to the Group
of 77's
statement in
support of
Palestine, it
may be a
question of
when, not if.
Non-Council
member
Barbados on
Friday at noon
confirmed
Inner City
Press' earlier
exclusive
story that
Barbados is
among the
countries
that has
formally filed
reservations
to Paragraph
108 of the
G-77
Statement,
and named
Antigua (and
Barbuda) as
another that
has
expressed
reservations.
We'll have
more on this.
Abbas at GA on
filing day, SC
vote count of
only six not
shown
Some of those
in the Council
bringing about
this special
"legal" delay
-- a review of
the Charter by
experts that
one of the six
strong
supporters of
Palestine
called
entirely
unnecessary --
say the delay
is for the
Middle East
Quartet
process.
On Friday
before Mansour
spoke but did
not take
questions,
Inner City
Press asked UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman
Martin Nesirky
who reviews
Quartet envoy
Tony Blair's
conflicts of
interest,
working for JP
Morgan Chase
and the
Quartet. "Not
the UN,"
Nesirky said,
urging Inner
City Press to
ask Tony Blair
or the other
Quartet
participants.
Watch this
site.
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