Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/gaza2council012208.html
UNITED NATIONS, January 22 -- No statement about the blockade of the Gaza Strip was announced by the Security Council, after more than six hours of debate. The public session ended with Israel's representative taking this month's Council president, Giadalla Ettalhi of Libya, to task for using the word "genocide." Ambassador Ettalhi's quote, available here at Minute 2:16:52, was that the Council should "protect them from attempts at genocide by the occupying authority, I'm sorry, I couldn't find anything to describe this." Afterwards, the Libyan ambassador was asked for his reaction to the Israeli's statement. I don't care what Israel says, was the response, but only what they do.
In terms of deeds, Council sources tell Inner City Press that "thirteen and a half" Council members wanted some form of statement to issue on Tuesday. The half, they say, is the United Kingdom, though some ascribe this to the absence from negotiations of UK's Permanent Representative. Then again, when he was asking on Monday morning, after a weekend of no lights or power on the Gaza Strip, UK Ambassador Sawers said the issue could wait until Wednesday and the then-scheduled general purpose debate on the Middle East. Now that session has been postponed to January 30, at which time, the Libyan Council president says, the complicated issues of Gaza can be considered.
The "one" in the one and a half is the hyper-power itself, the United States. At the close of Council business on Tuesday, U.S. Deputy Permanent Representative Alejandro Wolff spoke at length in the hallway with his Israeli counterpart. Afterwards, Amb. Wolff told Inner City Press that Permanent Representative Zalmay Khalilzad was back at the U.S. Mission, preparing for his appearance Thursday in the U.S. Senate about the UN Development Program's dealings with North Korea's Kim Jong Il.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, before he flew to Geneva on Monday, put in calls to Israel and Egypt. He also, as confirmed by his spokesperson on Tuesday, did not respond affirmatively to a meeting request from the Permanent Observer of the League of Arab States, Yahya Mahmassani. It was just a scheduling problem, the spokesperson assured. When asked why he hadn't called any Palestinian party, she said that it is Israel and Egypt which control the border crossings to Gaza.
On the use of the word genocide, there was no time to asked Council president Ettalhi if, like some commentators, he would apply the word to some of the ethically-based killings in Kenya, or to the clan-based killings in Somalia. When questioned about his comments on Israel Tuesday, Ambassador Ettalhi said his statement on genocide had been very clear. We'll see.
