By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, December 12 -- On Friday Security Council president Vitaly Churkin of Russia told the press that High Commissioner on Human Rights Navi Pillay's briefing Monday at 3pm on "the Middle East" was understood to include Palestine as well as Syria.
But Western Council members, and the Spokesperson for Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. continued to describe her briefing as only about Syria.
A Western members' Deputy Permanent Representative, when asked by Inner City Press if it was his understanding that the briefing would also be about Palestine, said "no."
Inner City Press asked Indian Permanent Representative Hardeep Singh Puri if the briefing would be on Palestine too. "I think so," he said. "On the Middle East -- did Palestine move out of it?"
Navi Pillay declined to answer the question on her way in -- she did say that "definitely more than four thousand" have been killed in Syria. But sources inside the Council told Inner City Press that Pillay briefed about Syria and then said she understood some were interested in the wider Middle East, and took questions on Palestine.
The Western Council members said they would be speaking to the press at the stakeout after the closed door meeting, presumably initially or only about Syria. Would the non-Western members similarly speak? Watch this site.
