UN Nov 11 Vote Pushed By Foes of Palestine Membership, Jan 1 Changes

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 24 -- When the UN Security Council scheduled Palestine's application for membership to be presented back to the full Council from the Committee on Admission of New Members on November 11, it was left unclear and undecided if an up or down vote on membership would be held that day.

Since Mahmoud Abbas launched the membership bid on September 23 and Palestinian Observer Riyad Mansour told the Press the Council process should end during the Nigerian presidency -- that is, in October -- it's been assumed that Palestine and its supporters are the ones wanting a vote on November 11.

But multiple sources tell Inner City Press that the push for a vote on November 11 comes from opponents of Palestine's membership. The analysis is that on the current Council there are not the required nine positive votes for Palestinian membership.

The Obama Administration, in any event, has said it would veto Palestinian UN membership -- but without nine positive votes it could escape the isolation it faced in vetoing the anti-settlements resolution previously.

The elections for new seats on the Security Council for 2012-13 reflect increased support in January for Palestinian membership, with Pakistan and Morocco among others joining the Council. So by the logic of those opposed to Palestinian member, the time to call for the vote is now.

France, several Council sources say, is pushing for a November 11 vote.

But couldn't Palestine just re-submit an application for membership for consideration on January 1 or shortly thereafter?

On logistics, there will be a meeting of Permanent Representatives sitting as the Committee on Admission of New Members on November 3, then they will report to themselves on November 11, as the full Council. Watch this site.

Amid UN SC Stalling with "Palestine Ping Pong," Mansour Says October Conclusion

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 13 -- The Security Council's slow charade of mulling Palestine's application for UN members continued Thursday in a three hour meeting in the Council's consultations room.

Afterward representatives of the "Strong Six" supporting Palestine expressed frustration, that those seeking delay spoke in circles and now wanted to refer the matter back up to the level of Permanent Representatives and then have it sent down again. One wag dubbed this "Palestine Ping Pong."

October's Security Council president Joy Ogwu of Nigeria told the press that the process is "arduous," and that the Committee might meet again as early as Friday. (Later when the Committee members left, several said the next meeting would be Monday at earliest.)

Inner City Press asked Ogwu if she expected the process at the experts' level to be completed during her presidency. She said she didn't know.

Palestinian Permanent Observer Riyad Mansour arrived after the meeting was over. He told Inner City Press, "This process will come to a conclusion soon."

Inner City Press asked him, "During the Nigerian presidency?"

"Yes," Mansour said or predicted. We'll see.

At UN Palestine Application Stalled In Procedures, Strong 6, Shaky 3, Germany

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, October 7 -- When Palestine's application for UN membership was taken up Friday morning by the Security Council Committee on Admission of New Members, the press not only wasn't allowed in, it was told it could not wait outside the meeting room to ask questions.

Inner City Press has nevertheless gleaned what took place inside Conference Room 7. The "Strong Six" supporters of Palestine's application -- India, Brazil, South Africa, Russia, China and Lebanon -- urged that the process speed up, and opposed a series of procedural issues and questions raised by the European members.

The European members, the most questioning (or "obstructionist") of which sources say was Germany, asked Security Council Affairs a series of questions about deadlines, when the Committee must report to the full Council and to the General Assembly.

Since the applicable rules were written when the General Assembly met only infrequently, the process is out of date. In any event, the Council has dealt differently with various applications for membership. As one of the "Strong Six" put it to Inner City Press, the Europeans should be not allowed to hide behind procedure. But for now they try. Then there's the US veto threat.

Significantly, the sources tell Inner City Press, two of the "Shaking Three" -- in this case, Bosnia and Nigeria, as Council president for October -- did not make statements. The other of the "Shaky" trio, Gabon, made a statement that did not tip its hand.

As the proponents of Palestine's membership interpret it, the International Court of Justice in 1948 ruled that only the small list of criteria in the Charter, Article 41, should be looked at in connection with the application for membership. Therefore, they say, there is little reason to get bogged down in procedure.

Germany, which along with the United States voted "no" on Palestinian membership in UNESCO in the run up to the October 25 full membership vote, has said that it opposes Palestine seeking membership other UN bodies because their main application is in the Security Council.

But now, the sources say, Germany is trying to stall and block its consideration there. They speculate about historical motivations of German policy. But the stalling remains, behind closed doors.

As Palestine Bid Mulled In Windowless UN Room, No Sign Outside, Press Banned

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 7 -- When the UN Security Council's Committee on the Admission of New Members convened Friday morning down a long cement hallway in the UN's North Lawn building, the sign outside Conference Room 7 said only "Closed Meeting," with no hint of the topic. Nor was the meeting listed in the UN's daily Journal.

By contrast, when a meeting of the Council, similarly at the "expert" level, was held on October 5 in Conference Room 6, the sign outside disclosed "On the Presidential Statement on SSR," Security Sector Reform. Inner City Press was allowed to stand directly outside that meeting and ask participants questions.

One of the question was why Palestine's application is being delayed, ostensibly to consider legal issues. The Committee could have met on October 5 -- the experts, they said, were a different set from those on Security Sector Reform -- but instead it was put off to Friday.

South Sudan's application was quickly approved, despite contested borders. Here, there will be some "update" in a week; sources predict no Council action for at least three weeks, referring to the first stage of the Middle East Quartet's September 23 announced process.

On Friday morning, Inner City Press was told it could not remain even down the hallway from the Palestine meeting in Conference Room 7.

Concerned about the difference, Inner City Press at Friday's UN noon briefing asked UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Martin Nesirky about the "blackout" of the meeting, including the sign not mentioning the topic, and why the press was not allowed even to stand outside the meeting.

Nesirky replied that "ultimately the Security Council decides on the format of its meetings." Video here, from Minute 10.

Inner City Press pointed out that the decision to bar the press even from outside the meeting room was not a matter of format, nor seemingly decided on by the Security Council, but rather Ban's Secretariat.

Nesirky insisted that "the Security Council determines its own working methods." Some note that October's Security Council President Nigeria, which has indicated it would not vote yes for Palestine's membership in the UN, put out a notice that for SC Program, "There are no scheduled meetings for Friday, 7 October 2011." And perhaps that explains the Journal's silence too.

But Nigeria doesn't run the electronic signs outside UN conference rooms, and doesn't control the UN Secretariat's Security -- for which Ban apologized, too quickly many feel, to Turkish prime minister Erdogan after a dust up that left three UN Security officer injured and hospitalized. But that's another story.

In the face of these obstacles, Inner City Press is continuing its reporting on the obstacles thrown forward inside the blacked-out meeting -- watch this site.

As Palestine Delayed in NY Under Weak SSR Pretext, UNESCO Vote in Wrong Venue

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 5 -- As Palestine's bid for full membership in UNESCO moved forward on Wednesday, in the UN Security Council Palestine's application is being delayed.

On October 4, this month's Security Council president Joy Ogwu of Nigeria said that the Council's Committee on Admission of New Members was meeting "at the expert level" as quickly as possible -- on October 7.

She explained that October 6 has a meeting about Abyei, Sudan, and October 5 had a meeting to negotiate the Presidential Statement on SSR, or Security Sector Reform.

But Inner City Press went to cover the October 5 session on SSR, held in a windowless conference room in the UN's North Lawn building.

The Council representatives who went in, many of them genially greeting Inner City Press, did not appear to be the experts who are considering Palestine's application. This was multiply confirmed to Inner City Press.

So why didn't the Security Council's committee meet about Palestine's application some time before the final day of this week? The excuse given, it seems, doesn't wash.

Meanwhile in Paris at UNESCO, "forty of the 58 countries on the executive board voted in favor of the recommendation, while four -- the United States, Germany, Romania and Latvia -- voted against and 14, including Spain and France, abstained, sources said."

In New York, Inner City Press asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Martin Nesirky if Ban had any comment on the UNESCO vote, as he'd just had comment on the Security Council's vote on Syria (Ban "regretted" the vote.) Nesirky said Ban had no comment.

In Paris, French foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero explained France's non-support of Palestine's membership: "We don't think UNESCO is the appropriate arena," he said. Maybe Paris is not the appropriate arena for UNESCO. Watch this site.