Kouchner, French Foreign Minister and President of the UN Security Council has just received 14 yes votes for the cease-fire text - and an abstention from Condi Rice of the USA. To Condi's right, through the meeting, sat the Israeli Ambassador. But they did not veto it, which gives you an idea of how weak it must have been.
From Kouchner's summary:
end of rocket fire
end of Israeli manoevres
open crossing points
stopping illicit trafficking of arms
The US and others trafficking arms to Israel is, of course, never mentioned. I haven't seen the text - it was still being negotiated over to the last minute the CNN UN correspondent was saying - but it's all predetermined in large part. Kouchner was about to call the vote and laughed when he was given the list of how people voted. It is a formality. Text when available.
This shows that Israel is now contemplating a reduction in their attacks ahead of Cairo - they can use this resolution as a reason.
[UPDATE: 4:30PM NZDT:
UN reporting:
The United Nations Security Council tonight overwhelmingly called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza leading to a full Israeli withdrawal, the unimpeded provision throughout Gaza of food, fuel and medical treatment, and intensified international arrangements to prevent arms and ammunition smuggling.
I heard Condi tell the Security Council pretty much what Miliband was saying before they went in: the US wanted "security for the people of Israel and a better life for the people of Gaza." But not security, just a "better life" - which in the context of being bombed by Israel for 21 hours a day could mean very little indeed - and something very much below the security that Israel will be afforded.
The Fatah spokesman said that Israel as the occupying power must implement the resolution immediately. This was echoed by the Egyptian delegate. Then Israel's Ambassador, Gabriela Shalev made a short statement. It was the same rhetoric we've heard for years. Hamas "cannot be a legitimate representative" I think is what she said. But they are legitimate. They had elections, Israel didn't like the outcome and have tried to change it - this attack is part of that effort. Refusal to recognise Hamas and to claim that the entire government is a terrorist structure is awfully hollow coming from an Israeli spokesperson, the government of whom ordered the bombing of the Palestinian parliament building amongst other outrages currently being perpetrated by the IDF in Gaza.
-- UPDATE ENDS]
"UN Relief and Works Agency spokesman Chris Gunness reported this evening that the Israeli army is privately briefing diplomats on the fact that its previous claims about their attack on a UN-run girls’ school in the Gaza Strip, which caused over 100 civilian casualties, were baseless."
ReplyDeletehttp://news.antiwar.com/2009/01/07/un-israel-admits-claims-about-attacked-school-baseless/
I have long argued for Hamas to be given a chance to speak. It seems that the problem was not the chance to speak but the opportunity to be heard. Even I had not read this before. Hat tip to Swampash on kiwiblog.
ReplyDeleteI cannot help but post it in it's entirety.
The Guardian, Tuesday 31 January 2006
"We will not sell our people or principles for foreign aid
Palestinians voted for Hamas because of our refusal to give up their rights. But we are ready to make a just peace"
It is widely recognised that the Palestinians are among the most politicised and educated peoples in the world. When they went to the polls last Wednesday they were well aware of what was on offer and those who voted for Hamas knew what it stood for. They chose Hamas because of its pledge never to give up the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people and its promise to embark on a programme of reform. There were voices warning them, locally and internationally, not to vote for an organisation branded by the US and EU as terrorist because such a democratically exercised right would cost them the financial aid provided by foreign donors.
The day Hamas won the Palestinian democratic elections the world's leading democracies failed the test of democracy. Rather than recognise the legitimacy of Hamas as a freely elected representative of the Palestinian people, seize the opportunity created by the result to support the development of good governance in Palestine and search for a means of ending the bloodshed, the US and EU threatened the Palestinian people with collective punishment for exercising their right to choose their parliamentary representatives.
We are being punished simply for resisting oppression and striving for justice. Those who threaten to impose sanctions on our people are the same powers that initiated our suffering and continue to support our oppressors almost unconditionally. We, the victims, are being penalised while our oppressors are pampered. The US and EU could have used the success of Hamas to open a new chapter in their relations with the Palestinians, the Arabs and the Muslims and to understand better a movement that has so far been seen largely through the eyes of the Zionist occupiers of our land.
Our message to the US and EU governments is this: your attempt to force us to give up our principles or our struggle is in vain. Our people who gave thousands of martyrs, the millions of refugees who have waited for nearly 60 years to return home and our 9,000 political and war prisoners in Israeli jails have not made those sacrifices in order to settle for close to nothing.
Hamas has been elected mainly because of its immovable faith in the inevitability of victory; and Hamas is immune to bribery, intimidation and blackmail. While we are keen on having friendly relations with all nations we shall not seek friendships at the expense of our legitimate rights. We have seen how other nations, including the peoples of Vietnam and South Africa, persisted in their struggle until their quest for freedom and justice was accomplished. We are no different, our cause is no less worthy, our determination is no less profound and our patience is no less abundant.
Our message to the Muslim and Arab nations is this: you have a responsibility to stand by your Palestinian brothers and sisters whose sacrifices are made on behalf of all of you. Our people in Palestine should not need to wait for any aid from countries that attach humiliating conditions to every dollar or euro they pay despite their historical and moral responsibility for our plight. We expect you to step in and compensate the Palestinian people for any loss of aid and we demand you lift all restrictions on civil society institutions that wish to fundraise for the Palestinian cause.
Our message to the Palestinians is this: our people are not only those who live under siege in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip but also the millions languishing in refugee camps in Lebanon, Jordan and Syria and the millions spread around the world unable to return home. We promise you that nothing in the world will deter us from pursuing our goal of liberation and return. We shall spare no effort to work with all factions and institutions in order to put our Palestinian house in order. Having won the parliamentary elections, our medium-term objective is to reform the PLO in order to revive its role as a true representative of all the Palestinian people, without exception or discrimination.
Our message to the Israelis is this: we do not fight you because you belong to a certain faith or culture. Jews have lived in the Muslim world for 13 centuries in peace and harmony; they are in our religion "the people of the book" who have a covenant from God and His Messenger Muhammad (peace be upon him) to be respected and protected. Our conflict with you is not religious but political. We have no problem with Jews who have not attacked us - our problem is with those who came to our land, imposed themselves on us by force, destroyed our society and banished our people.
We shall never recognise the right of any power to rob us of our land and deny us our national rights. We shall never recognise the legitimacy of a Zionist state created on our soil in order to atone for somebody else's sins or solve somebody else's problem. But if you are willing to accept the principle of a long-term truce, we are prepared to negotiate the terms. Hamas is extending a hand of peace to those who are truly interested in a peace based on justice.
· Khalid Mish'al is head of the political bureau of Hamas
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2006/jan/31/comment.israelandthepalestinians
Obama camp 'prepared to talk to Hamas'
ReplyDeleteIncoming administration will abandon Bush's isolation of Islamist group to initiate low-level diplomacy, say transition sources
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/08/barack-obama-gaza-hamas
The only talk that should be done is through cruise missiles.
ReplyDeleteIf they stop the war, where will the US get to test it's new missiles?
ReplyDeleteTehran. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Brewer - good information mate! Hell of a Declaration!
ReplyDeleteExcellent Post Tim!