Posted on September 20th, 2011 by Marian Houk
The news this morning from CNN was that “international” diplomats — mostly European — were working to arrange some kind of face-saving deal whereby Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas would present an official request for full UN membership to the UN Security Council, but not ask for a vote. This story is reported here. It is [...]
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Filed under: Israel, Palestine & Palestinians, UN General Assembly, UN Security Council, United Nations, US in UN
Posted on September 19th, 2011 by Marian Houk
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has arrived in New York for what has looked like an eventful week that would culminate in a Palestinian bid for full membership in the United Nations. Abbas met the UN Secretary-General BAN Ki-Moon today — but did not submit the letter that has to be given to the UN Secretary-General [...]
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Filed under: BAN Ki-Moon, Israel, Palestine & Palestinians, UN General Assembly, UN Security Council, United Nations, US in UN
Posted on September 17th, 2011 by Marian Houk
In a briefing called Saturday morning for “Arabic” journalists [only] in Ramallah, Nabil Shaath reportedly said — according to a account in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, published here — that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas “will apply for membership to the Security Council, which may take few days to bring it up for discussion and then [...]
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Filed under: Palestine & Palestinians, UN General Assembly, UN Security Council, United Nations
Posted on September 16th, 2011 by Marian Houk
One week before he is scheduled to address the UN General Assembly in New York, Mahmoud Abbas — Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization [PLO], who is also serving beyond his term as President of the Palestinian Authority — finally addressed the Palestinian people this evening to explain what he is [...]
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Filed under: Boundaries & Borders, Israel, Palestine & Palestinians, UN General Assembly, UN Security Council, United Nations
Posted on September 16th, 2011 by Marian Houk
In this Al-Jazeera International interview with a nicely designed set — possibly in the UNSG’s 38th floor office, it seems — UNSG BAN Ki-Moon speaks with Al Jazeera’s Kristen Saloomey, and says: “Membership in UN is something that is up to the member states of the UN … It does not fall within my mandate [...]
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Filed under: BAN Ki-Moon, Palestine & Palestinians, UN Secretary-General, United Nations
Posted on August 29th, 2011 by Marian Houk
As Israel’s Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu works to follow-up on his faxes sent a week ago to leaders around the world urging them to oppose any Palestinian change of status at the United Nations, and as the U.S. sent a message from Washington [hand-delivered to Jericho by the U.S. Consul-General in Jerusalem last Friday] threatening [...]
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Filed under: Israel, Palestine & Palestinians, United Nations, US in UN
Posted on July 29th, 2011 by Marian Houk
The tone in Robert Serry’s voice conveyed an urgency greater than the mere words on paper. On Tuesday [26 July], during the now-regular monthly meeting of the UN Security Council on the Middle East, Serry — who is the new UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and also Personal Representative of the [...]
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Filed under: Ambassadors and other diplomats, International Law, Israel, Palestine & Palestinians, UN Security Council, United Nations, US in UN
Posted on July 17th, 2011 by Marian Houk
It was the European Union — and not just Russia, as earlier reported — that blocked a U.S. move in the last Quartet meeting (a dinner in Washington on 11 July) to back, and impose on Palestinians, a statement that would have endorsed two of Israel’s main recent demands (Palestinian acknowledgement of Israel as a [...]
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Filed under: Boundaries & Borders, European Union, Israel, Palestine & Palestinians, Quartet, Russia, United Nations
Posted on July 8th, 2011 by Marian Houk
Because it is so amusing, we are cross-posting from our sister blog (Palestine-Mandate.com) here the “September State (Dawlat Aylul)” by Jerusalem-born artist Ahmad Dari, a long-term resident of France, which is on Youtube here: . Earlier, Ahmad Dari compiled his impressions on the mission of former U.S. Special Envoy, George Mitchell, posted on Youtube here: [...]
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Filed under: Boundaries & Borders, European Union, Israel, Palestine & Palestinians, United Nations, USA
Posted on June 16th, 2011 by Marian Houk
AFP has written a story from UNHQ/NY, based on an as-yet-unpublished UN report, that apparently says that Palestinian and Syrian demonstrators coming from Syria crossed an “unmarked minefield” in the Golan Heights on May 15 — the day that Israeli forces were surprised by the breach. From the AFP story, published here, it is not [...]
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Filed under: Boundaries & Borders, Human Rights, Israel, Landmines, Palestine & Palestinians, Syria, UN Peacekeeping, United Nations
