Ambassadors and other diplomats

Mitchell due in Israel today – Netanyahu announces big speech coming this week

Israel’s Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu has announced he will make a big speech this week [UPDATE: at the beginning of next week, Netanyahu’s office confirmed this evening. FURTHER UPDATE: It will be delivered on Sunday at Bar-Ilan University, as Obama’s speech was delivered at Cairo University. And, by the way, Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal will also deliver a speech from Damascus in the coming days, which will reportedly come after Netanyahu’s big speech, but which is also supposed to be a response to Obama]. Netanyahu has said he will present Israel’s idea for “peace”.

Maybe it will even be an “initiative”.

Israeli journalist Akiva Eldar has said, as reported earlier here, that the main Israeli objection to the Arab Peace Initiative is its name.

Yes, really.

Now, after provoking most of the world into a tizzy by [rather recently] refusing to endorse a two-state solution, analysis and multiple leaks to the media suggest that Netanyahu believes he has gotten the American administration to agree to some kind of less-than-state for the Palestinians. The model mentioned today is Andorra (no longer Hong Kong or Singapore, or even Switzerland).

Netanyahu may want an “initiative” to supersede the 2003 Road Map.

Members of Netanyahu’s new government have spoken against the Road Map, but voices are now being heard extolling the advantages of this document to which former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon affixed some 13 or 14 reservations.

Even though Phase I has not been fulfilled in the six years since the Road Map was launched in 2003, the supposed benefits of Phase II, which calls for the establishment of a Palestinian “State” with provisional — not final — borders, are now coming under renewed examination.

(In addition, Phase II also calls for the Palestinian “State” to take its full place in the United Nations, where it is at presented only represented by an “Observer” mission.)

Over the weekend, interesting reports in the Israeli media suggested that Mitchell might push for an immediate designation of “provisional” borders. which would be in accordance with the Road Map’s Phase II (and should therefore accordingly accompany the creation of a Palestinian state), in order to know where settlement activity would be legal or not.

The notion that agreement on borders would clarify settlement activities originated in the Bush administration during the 2008 Annapolis process of negotiations, and was publicly articulated by former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezzaa Rice. However, she did not mention “provisional” borders — which is something that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has firmly opposed.

Continue reading Mitchell due in Israel today – Netanyahu announces big speech coming this week

UNSG's Special Representative for Sports, Willy Lemke, going to visit Gaza today

As part of a ten-day mission to the region, the UN SG’s Special Representative for Sports for development and peace, Wilfried Lemke of Germany, will visit Gaza today and tomorrow, and will enter Gaza via Israel’s Erez crossing, or “Border Terminal”.

UPDATE AND CORRECTION: According to information in a UN press release prepared by an information officer accompanying the UN’s “top sports envoy”, Lemke apparently could not enter Gaza on Sunday, because the IDF had closed the Erez checkpoint [possibly because of the demonstration described below]. So, he must have made a round-trip on Monday, when Erez was open, despite what Israeli sources reported was an unusual Palestinian attack, reportedly involving cars and horses carrying explosives, on the Nahal Oz fuel crossing in middle Gaza, after which every crossing but Erez was closed. The formal UN press release reported that Lemke said, after meeting young Palestinian athletes at a sports stadium in Gaza City: “I am deeply touched by the plight of the people of Gaza”. This UN press release can be read in full here.

In an interview at the American Colony Hotel on Saturday evening, Lemke said that the mission was his idea, after the IDF’s Operation Cast Lead (27 December-18 January), and that UNSG BAN Ki-Moon had fully endorsed and backed the proposal.

Last evening, back in Jerusalem after a long trip through the northern West Bank to see sports projects in the cities of Nablus and Qalqilya, Lemke explained that when he learned from different media reports about how professional and prepared German soldiers returning from duty in Afghanistan had been affected by psychological shock [Post Traumatic Stress Disorder], he realized how much worse the situation must be for Palestinian children, particularly those in Gaza after the recent large-scale Israeli military operation there.

About six and a half weeks ago, he said, he travelled to UNHQ/NY to discuss a proposed intiative with the UNSG. “We have to do something to help the children in Gaza”, Lemke said he told the SG. “Perhaps I can bring some sports to them and their communities”.

Lemke said that BAN “totally agreed”, and said: “Yes, go there and see what’s going on. Try to build up some programs with NGOs and other organizations … Don’t worry about the funding, just think about projects. Listen and learn what the UN can do”.

Continue reading UNSG's Special Representative for Sports, Willy Lemke, going to visit Gaza today

US will run for UN Human Rights Council in Geneva: Says it's better to be inside than outside

The U.S, State Department said on Friday, in response to a question from a journalist, that “the reason why we have decided to seek election to the Human Rights Council is because after this review – and it was a very thorough review that was undertaken by the Administration – we believe that it’s important to try to promote human rights by being in the council instead of outside. And as Secretary Clinton and President Obama have said, human rights is at the forefront of our foreign policy. And we believe that the only way that we can make the changes that we want to see in the Human Rights Council is to be in that council. And so that was the basis of the decision”.

The next elections will be on 15 May. Those elected will serve a three-year term. The Human Rights Council was established in March 2006, in what was intended to be a big reform effort, to replace the UN Human Rights Commission. But, there is not universal satisfaction at the result.
Continue reading US will run for UN Human Rights Council in Geneva: Says it's better to be inside than outside

US and UK – is there any movement on the use of torture?

Craig Murray, former British Ambassador to Uzbekistan and a human rights activist, has written on his blog that the British Foreign Office has admitted using intelligence obtained via torture: “This is the most important blog post I have ever made. I would be grateful if you could do everything in your power to disseminate a link to anyone you know who has the remotest interest in human rights – or should have. This blog will be silent for a few days now. Tucked away at Page 15 of its annual Human Rights report, the FCO has finally made a public admission of its use of intelligence from torture. Despite the Orwellian doublespeak about ‘unreserved condemnation of torture’, this is the clearest statement the government has ever made that it, as a policy, employs intelligence from torture…
Continue reading US and UK – is there any movement on the use of torture?

Sudan's President indicted – UN in panic about 25,000 staff on ground – interesting blog report from UN about triumphalist press conferences

The President of Sudan has been indicted by the International Criminal Court in the Hague on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity — but not on charges of genocide.

The Arab League will meet at ministerial level to discuss the implications etc.

The UN is in a panic, worried about its 25,000 staff on the ground that it may have to evacuate.

Medecins Sans Frontiers announced on Wednesday that it was pulling its staff out. Later, the Sudanese government gave orders to a number of other human rights and humanitarian aid organizations to leave immediately.
Continue reading Sudan's President indicted – UN in panic about 25,000 staff on ground – interesting blog report from UN about triumphalist press conferences

Ahtisaari: "We cannot go on, year after year, simply pretending to do something to help the situation in the Middle East"

Today, Martti Ahtisaar formally accepted this year’s Nobel Peace Prize at a formal banquet in Oslo, Norway.

Ahtisaari was informed on 10 October that he was the winner of the 2008 Nobel Peace prize (See earlier post here ).

In his Nobel Lecture today, he said, among other things, that:

“All conflicts can be resolved Wars and conflicts are not inevitable. They are caused by human beings. There are always interests that are furthered by war. Therefore those who have power and influence can also stop them. Peace is a question of will. All conflicts can be settled, and there are no excuses for allowing them to become eternal. It is simply intolerable that violent conflicts defy resolution for decades causing immeasurable human suffering, and preventing economic and social development. The passivity and impotence of the international community make it more difficult for us to place our faith in jointly built security structures…

“A solution must be found to the Middle East conflict. The most challenging peace-building project ahead of us is finding a solution to the conflicts in the Middle East, which have continued for decades. The tensions and wars in the region have been going on for so long that many have come to believe that the Middle East knot can never be untied. I do not share this belief. All crises, including the one in the Middle East, can be resolved. The solution would require a contribution from all the parties involved as well as the international community as a whole. We might be strengthened in our resolve if we set our sights on the future and imagine what the world could look like if the countries in the region could jointly begin to develop their economic potential, build transport links, make full use of their educated population and begin to reap the benefits of an advantageous location in the crossroads of three continents. I hope that the new President of the United States, who will be sworn in next month, will give high priority to the Middle East conflict during his first year in office. The European Union, Russia and the UN must also be seriously committed so that a solution can be found to the crises stretching from Israel and Palestine to Iraq and Iran. If we want to achieve lasting results, we must look at the whole region. The credibility of the whole international community is at stake. We cannot go on, year after year, simply pretending to do something to help the situation in the Middle East. We must also get results. For many people, tensions between religions have provided an easy explanation for the intractability of the Middle East crisis. I cannot accept this view. During my career I have seen many crises in which religion has been used as a weapon or as an instrument for prolonging the conflict. Religions themselves are, however, peace-loving. They can also be a constructive force in peace-building, and this also applies to the Middle East”.

Ahtisaari also said: “I hope that all those brave women and men that have worked for the peace in their country would feel that they can share this prize with me … We should not accept any excuses from those in power. Peace is a question of will”.

The full text of Martti Ahtisaari’s Nobel Lecture can be found here.

A sensitive State Department official — notes North Korean sadness

An unusually-sensitive U.S. State Department official has noticed North Korean sadness.

Yes.

The North Koreans were sad at having to blow up a cooling tower to show that it was sincere about “disabling” its nuclear reactor at Yongbyon.

Destruction of Yongbyon cooling tower- 27 June 2008 - AP Photo compiled from APTN footage

That’s what you get for testing nuclear weapons after withdrawing from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

The Associated Press reported today that “There hasn’t yet been any official North Korean reaction to the destruction of the most visible symbol of its nuclear program, but a U.S. diplomat who witnessed it said Saturday that the big blast saddened government officials there … the State Department’s top Koreas expert said he believed the event was an emotional loss for the Stalinist state. ‘I detected … a sense of sadness when the tower came down’, said Sung Kim, who traveled to Yongbyon, about 60 miles north of the capital of Pyongyang to watch the demolition of the 60-foot-tall cylindrical structure. ‘There is a significant degree of emotional attachment to the Yongbyon facilities’, he told reporters in the South Korean capital after briefing Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other officials about the destruction of the tower on Friday. The reclusive nation, one of the most isolated in the world, has yet to inform its citizens of the development, which came amid a flurry of activity in the international effort to get North Korea to give up atomic arms, and it is not clear if or when it will. Kim said the sadness was most apparent on the face of Ri Yong Ho, the director of safeguards at North Korea’s Academy of Atomic Energy Research who was the most senior Pyongyang official present, but was shared by other North Koreans who were there. ‘(You could tell) just looking at the expression of the Yongbyon engineers who were on the site when this happened’, said Kim, who shook hands with Ri after the smoke cleared and the cooling tower had vanished from the landscape. ‘He said he just hoped that this would contribute to peace and stability’, Kim said, adding that he understood the North Koreans had spent up to two weeks preparing the tower for demolition…”

The full AP report can be read here

The charm of brazen bimbos – or courageous heroines with irresistable life force?

Is he a cad? Or is it just love, overwhelming, passionate, fascinating and endlessly amusing love? Britain’s former Ambassador to Uzbekistan Craig Murray left his wife and children for this woman, who is now telling her story in a one-woman show that will open in London in January, and in interviews with the press that he writes about on his blog, here, as follows: “Good interview with Nadira in the Sunday Times today. It is brilliant that she now gets to tell her own story, and it certainly opens up a huge raft of questions. Apparently there are some great photos in the newspaper, which they haven’t put on the net…” In another post, Murray wrote: “She reveals some things about me I would perhaps not have voluntered myself, but then that’s freedom of speech!”

Nadira - by Craig Murray

The Sunday Times wrote that “Instead of the comfortable life in the West he promised, she became the target of a smear campaign started after Murray criticised the British government for using intelligence obtained by torture in Uzbekistan. ‘The government was using me as a cheap way of discrediting Craig’, she said. ‘I was described as a bimbo, a prostitute, “stupidly beautiful” by journalists. In fact I have a degree. I was supporting my family’. Not only was the relationship between the 22-year-old dancer and portly 48-year-old diplomat splashed across the tabloids but Murray lost his job and the couple ended up in a cramped rented flat in Shepherd’s Bush…” (See “Ambassador’s belly dancer stages her life“, here. )