As Lebanon Heads UNSC, Salam Riffs on Palestine, Doesn't Defer to NATO
By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, September 2 -- With the UN Security Council presidency being taken over by Lebanese Permanent Representative Nawaf Salam for September, the month of the General Debate and when Palestine might ask the Council to join the UN, many of wondered if Lebanon's complex politics might impact the Council's plumbing, if not its ultimate decisions.
Lebanon, for example, blocked the first proposed Press Statement on Syria, then disassociated itself from the Presidential Statement adopted on August 3.
While the two dueling Syria resolutions now pending in the Council may pose a problem for Salam -- on Friday he said his "good offices" to mediate haven't been requested -- an issue he clearly feels passionate about is Palestine.
During his press conference on Friday, his longest answer concerned the questions of Palestinian statehood. He recalled that Palestine declared itself a state in 1988. He cited the 1933 Montevideo Convention and said that Palestine has all the attributes of a state.
On the question of undefined borders, he compared it with South Sudan, which is still in a dispute with Khartoum for Abyei, Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile States.
Palestine is not, however, listed on the Council's program of work for September, even in the footnotes. Inner City Press asked Salam about Kordofan and Blue Nile. He said they could be addressed at the September 8 consultations on Sudan and South Sudan, and said he would come speak to the press after those consultations.
On Libya, Inner City Press asked Salam about a statement by French president Nicolas Sarkozy on September 1, that the so-called "Group of Friends of Libya" had decided that NATO can keep bombing.
The same is implied in the UN Secretariat's Libya plan written by Ian Martin, which Inner City Press exclusively obtained and published. Inner City Press asked Salam, but isn't that the Security Council's decision?
Salam said that yes, the Council can consider and decide on NATO's mission, at its Libya consultations scheduled for September 26. That seems late, but at least Salam said it's not just up to NATO.
Salam is an intellectual, having for example edited and written a chapter in the 2003 book "Lebanon in Limbo." His review copy inscription says, "Best wishes from a region (and not only my country) in limbo."
We will be reviewing the book during his month; we'll see where he comes out between the mere three media stakeouts held in May by French Ambassador Gerard Araud, and the eight full blown stakeouts conducted by Hardeep Singh Puri of India in August. Watch this site.
