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Palestine's
Ashrawi Tells
ICP Wants
Occupation to
End Within 3
Years, Inquiry
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 2 --
When the State
of Palestine's
Hanan Ashrawi
held a press
conference at
the UN in New
York on
September 2,
she announced
that a team
will be
meeting with
US Secretary
of State John
Kerry on
September 3,
to make clear
the demand for
the end of
Israel's
occupation by
“a date
certain.”
Inner
City Press
asked “which
date,” and by
which date
certain
Palestine
wants a
resolution to
be voted on in
the UN
Security
Council.
There's been
some delay in
the Council.
Many diplomats
have
complained to
Inner City
Press about
that, and
about
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
delay or lack
of clarity
about setting
up a UN Board
of Inquiry as
in 2009 (when
Ban allowed
himself to be
lobbied.)
Inner City
Press asked
about this as
well.
In her
opening
remarks
Ashrawi said
that Israel's
unilateral
buffer zone of
300 or 500
meters takes
most of Gaza's
agricultural
land. She said
“there is no
peace
process,” that
Israeli Prime
Minister
Benyamin
Netanyahu
reneged on
promises he
made to John
Kerry.
Later
in the press
conference,
see below,
Ashrawi
answered both
Inner City
Press
questions. She
said the State
of Palestine
wants the
occupation to
end within
three years.
She said a
Board of
Inquiry should
be set up,
asking
rhetorically,
if the UN
doesn't even
respect its
own laws, when
it was a
deliberate
act, the
coordinates of
the UNRWA
schools had
repeatedly
been given.
Footnote:
These
and other
questions were
lumped
together and
left to the
end. That
Ashrawi had
limited time -
she was set to
give a speech
at 10:30 am --
was
understandable.
But the UN
Correspondents
Association
and its CBS
branded
president
demanded the
first
question, and
then proceeded
to ask two. By
the time this
set-aside was
over, other
journalists'
questions were
all lumped
together. The
new Free
UN Coalition
for Access
opposes set
asides and
particularly
their abuse.
Since UNCA's
Executive
Committee
tried to get
the
investigative
Press thrown
out of the UN,
and has
implemented no
reforms since,
FUNCA will be
opposing
set-asides and
other ways
UNCA now
functions as
the UN's
Censorship
Alliance.
* * *
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