A new flurry of diplomatic activity was expected yesterday, as major powers and Israeli leaders undertake frantic efforts to avoid a showdown over a Palestinian bid to seek full UN membership as a state.
Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and Israeli Minister of Defense Ehud Barak held an unannounced meeting on Sunday, a day ahead of a UN General Assembly dominated by a Palestinian bid for UN recognition that the US has threatened to veto.
Fayyad told reporters that the two had discussed “security issues” and the Palestinian Authority’s “readiness to govern.” Israeli officials did not comment on the meeting.
Amid a gathering diplomatic scramble, officials from the diplomatic Quartet on the Middle East — the US, Russia, the EU and the UN — held their own meeting.
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton held talks with EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton. With the US determined to stop full state recognition, Clinton said the two were discussing “the way forward.”
Quartet envoy Tony Blair held separate talks with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was to hold his first meeting of the week with Ban yesterday.
Blair expressed hope that a deal could be reached.
“I think there is a way of avoiding a confrontation,” the former British prime minister said.
Diplomats said that with so few details available about the Palestinian demand for recognition, frantic talks were likely to continue right up to Abbas’ official request to the UN on Friday.
The US has said it will use its right as a permanent Security Council member to veto any resolution backing the Palestinians.
‘CRAZY’ PALESTINIANS
And Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that any Palestinian bid through the Security Council would fail, expressing hope the Palestinians would “come to their senses” and drop their unilateral bid for statehood.
The US and Israel insist only direct talks can set up an accord to create a Palestinian state.
If a veto is wielded, the Palestinians could go directly to the UN General Assembly to seek an elevated observer status. It would almost certainly get a majority of the 193 members and no veto is possible.
Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal suggested in an editorial yesterday that the US Congress cut funding to the UN if it endorses a Palestinian state.
“Perhaps it’s also time to rethink the fundamental desirability of a Palestinian state so long as the Palestinians remain more interested in tearing down their neighbor than in building a decent political culture of their own,” the conservative paper opined.
NO DECISION YET
Britain, France and Germany will have decisive votes on the council. All of their UN envoys say that no decision has been taken on how to vote because they have not seen a Palestinian resolution.
The Palestinians’ willingness to return to direct talks will play a central role in their decision, envoys added. Diplomats say the Palestinians are resisting putting any mention of “direct talks” in their resolution.
DEATH CONSTANTLY LOOMING: Decades of detention took a major toll on Iwao Hakamada’s mental health, his lawyers describing him as ‘living in a world of fantasy’ A Japanese man wrongly convicted of murder who was the world’s longest-serving death row inmate has been awarded US$1.44 million in compensation, an official said yesterday. The payout represents ￥12,500 (US$83) for each day of the more than four decades that Iwao Hakamada spent in detention, most of it on death row when each day could have been his last. It is a record for compensation of this kind, Japanese media said. The former boxer, now 89, was exonerated last year of a 1966 quadruple murder after a tireless campaign by his sister and others. The case sparked scrutiny of the justice system in
The head of Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, was sacked yesterday, days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he no longer trusts him, and fallout from a report on the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack. “The Government unanimously approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposal to end ISA Director Ronen Bar’s term of office,” a statement said. He is to leave his post when his successor is appointed by April 10 at the latest, the statement said. Netanyahu on Sunday cited an “ongoing lack of trust” as the reason for moving to dismiss Bar, who joined the agency in 1993. Bar, meant to
Indonesia’s parliament yesterday amended a law to allow members of the military to hold more government roles, despite criticisms that it would expand the armed forces’ role in civilian affairs. The revision to the armed forces law, pushed mainly by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s coalition, was aimed at expanding the military’s role beyond defense in a country long influenced by its armed forces. The amendment has sparked fears of a return to the era of former Indonesian president Suharto, who ex-general Prabowo once served and who used military figures to crack down on dissent. “Now it’s the time for us to ask the
‘HUMAN NEGLIGENCE’: The fire is believed to have been caused by someone who was visiting an ancestral grave and accidentally started the blaze, the acting president said Deadly wildfires in South Korea worsened overnight, officials said yesterday, as dry, windy weather hampered efforts to contain one of the nation’s worst-ever fire outbreaks. More than a dozen different blazes broke out over the weekend, with Acting South Korean Interior and Safety Minister Ko Ki-dong reporting thousands of hectares burned and four people killed. “The wildfires have so far affected about 14,694 hectares, with damage continuing to grow,” Ko said. The extent of damage would make the fires collectively the third-largest in South Korea’s history. The largest was an April 2000 blaze that scorched 23,913 hectares across the east coast. More than 3,000
RSS