Tag Archive for UN

| July 3, 2012
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PA seeks role in UN arms trade talks; denied

Ramallah’s wish to take active part in members-only talks blocked by Israel, US and EU

By Yitzhak Benhorin

 

WASHINGTON – Another attempt by the Palestinian Authority to asset statehood in the United Nations was blocked by Israel on Monday, Ynet has learned.

The PA sought to take an active role in a UN conference meant to hammer out the first binding treaty on the regulation of the global weapons market, valued at more than $70 billion a year.

PA observer to the UN Riyad Mansour Photo: AFP

PA observer to the UN Riyad Mansour - Photo: AFP

The conference is meant for the UN’s 193 member-states only. Israel, the United States and the European Union opposed the PA’s move – which was backed by several Arab countries. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: ,
| June 22, 2012
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Why are only the Palestinians considered ‘refugees’?

Following Israeli urging, U.S. Congress asks the U.N. to clarify why Palestinians can transfer their “refugee” status to descendants  • The request could possibly change U.S. funding for UNRWA.

By Shlomo Cesana

 

 

The U.S. Congress has approached the U.N. looking for an explanation as to why only the Palestinians have been allowed to pass on the status of refugees from generation to generation.
Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon in a recent video campaign about U.N. policy toward Palestinian refugees. | Photo credit: Foreign Ministry

Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon in a recent video campaign about U.N. policy toward Palestinian refugees. - Photo: Foreign Ministry

According to official U.N. treaties, a refugee is defined, in short, as someone who was forced to leave his or her home due to persecution.

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Category: Mid-East News | Tags: ,
| June 12, 2012
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UN-Backed PA NGO to Children: Replace Cigarettes with Guns

PA-based NGO supported by UN branches puts on a puppet show, tells kids to see Jews as “enemies” who kill Arab youth.

By Elad Benari

 

A Palestinian Authority-based NGO, the Burj Luq-Luq Social Center Society organization, recently performed a puppet show for children in east Jerusalem to promote non-smoking.

The educational message delivered by the puppets, however, instructed children to replace cigarettes with machine guns. A video of the puppet show was uploaded to the NGO’s website. It was accessed by the Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) research organization, which monitors and translates the PA-based media. The organization translated the video and presented it on its website. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| June 9, 2012
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Prosor elected as UN General Assembly VP

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations to serve as one of 21 vice presidents at global body

By Yitzhak Benhorin

 

WASHINGTON – Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Ron Prosor was elected to serve as one of the General Assembly’s vice presidents.

Prosor, 53, who has been serving as Israel’s envoy to the global body for the past year, will take office as one of the assembly’s 21 vice presidents in September. He is the third Israeli diplomat to be elected for the position.

Ron Prosor Photo: Shahar Azran

Ron Prosor - Photo: Shahar Azran

Prosor told Ynet on Friday that the development marks a great achievement for Israel at the UN. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags:
| June 7, 2012
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Hama massacre: ‘Is this child an Israel collaborator?’

Amid reports that Assad forces massacred some 100 people in central Syria, video posted on web exposes the horror; meanwhile UN envoy Anan to present new plan for ending crisis

 

International envoy Kofi Annan on Thursday will propose tasking a group of world powers and key regional players including Iran to come up with a strategy to end the 15-month conflict, UN diplomats said.

'Is this a terrorist?'

'Is this a terrorist?'

Annan will present the United Nations with a plan for creating a “contact group” whose final proposal must be acceptable to Syria’s allies Russia and China, which have blocked all UN action, as well as the US and its European allies, who insist that President Bashar Assad must go, they said. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: ,
| June 5, 2012
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Palestinians: US refugee amendment may delay peace deal

According to legislation, State Department must now differentiate between Palestinian refugees and descendants of refugees; former Abbas advisor: It can have a very bad reaction on the ground.

WASHINGTON – Palestinian advocates are warning that a new US Senate amendment dictating a reporting requirement on the issue of Palestinian refugees could set back efforts to reach a peace deal.

Dheisheh Refugee Camp near Bethlehem (file) - Photo: REUTERS

Dheisheh Refugee Camp near Bethlehem (file) - Photo: REUTERS

The amendment to a bill, recently approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee, mandates that the secretary of state must report how many of the Palestinians serviced by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency fled or left homes in Israelduring the War of Independence and how many are only their descendants.“It’s

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Category: Jewish News | Tags: , ,
| June 5, 2012
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Op-ed: Taking the offensive at UN

Op-ed: Even against overwhelming odds, Israel’s UN mission can boast impressive achievements

 

“Oom Shmoom.” Ask any Israeli politician, university lecturer, or taxi driver on their opinion of the United Nations, and odds are – that’s the response you’ll get. The pejorative term is Hebrew slang for “United Nothing,” and has come to epitomize the Israeli mentality towards the UN ever since it was coined by David Ben Gurion 60 years ago.

Ron Prosor Photo: Shahar Azran

Ron Prosor - Photo: Shahar Azran

For a select group of Israeli diplomats, however, the UN is not only the frontline in the fight for their nation’s legitimacy, but a crucial venue for promoting age old Jewish values of Tikkun Olam (fixing the world.) Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags:
| May 25, 2012
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US Senate Redefines ‘Palestinian Refugee’

The State Department and Jordan are unhappy that US lawmakers want to know how many “Palestinian refugees” actually lived in Israel in 1948

 

The US State Department and Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan are trying to block a Senate bill that would require an accurate accounting of how many ‘Palestinian refugees’ receive American aid dollars.

Deheishe "refugee camp" in Bethlehem

Deheishe "refugee camp" in Bethlehem - Reuters

The push came after the US Senate Appropriations Committee approved on Thursday language that would distinguish between Arabs who fled Israel in 1948 and their descendants.

The new language, introduced by Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), seeks to distinguish between those “whose place of residence was Palestine between June 1946 and May 1948 and who were displaced as a result of the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict; and who are descendants” of those people. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| May 25, 2012
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US Senate dramatically redefines definition of Palestinian ‘refugees’

 The UN says there are 5 million Palestinian refugees. The US Senate says that’s more than 160 times too high

 

Nearly everyone agrees that around 650,000 Palestinians fled or were forced from their homes between June 1946 and May 1948. But when it comes to counting the number of Palestinian refugees alive today, the math gets fuzzy.

US Senator Mark Kirk (R-IL) introduced an amendment to redefine how the US defines Palestinian refugees (photo credit: Courtesy Sen. Mark Kirk's office)US Senator Mark Kirk (R-IL) introduced an amendment to redefine how the US defines Palestinian refugees
Photo: Courtesy Sen. Mark Kirk’s office
According to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) – the main body tasked with providing assistance to Palestinian refugees – there are more than 5 million refugees at present.
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Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| May 10, 2012
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UN seeks upgrades for Palestinian refugee camps

UN says the time has come to add more permanent structures for the growing populations of camp residents.

 

BETHLEHEM, West Bank – Three generations of Palestinians displaced by the founding of Israel in 1948 know only life in UN refugee camps, going to schools beneath the blue-and-white UN flag and drawing their food stocks from UN warehouses.

UNRWA
UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees

For these Palestinians whose long-cherished goal is “right of return” to the lands they lost 64 years ago, the camps must be seen as temporary no matter how permanent they might seem to others.

Which explains why the latest program by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) to upgrade the camps’ dilapidated facilities is such a delicate operation.

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Category: Mid-East News | Tags: ,
| May 9, 2012
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Turkey ready to indict flotilla soldiers

Ankara’s State Prosecution still waiting for Israel to send names of soldiers who took part in Marmara raid. ‘When we receive the info, we’ll issue indictments,’ says justice minister

 

The Turkish Justice Ministry on Tuesday announced that the State Prosecutor’s Office has completed its probe into the IDF raid on the Turkish Marmara ship in May 2010, which resulted in the deaths of nine pro-Palestinian activists.

Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin said that his bureau had approached the Israeli Foreign Ministry in a request to receive a list of the names of Israeli soldiers who are supposed to stand trial. “When we receive the information, we will issue indictments to the relevant courts,” Ergin told Turkish news agency Anatolya. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , ,
| May 8, 2012
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ICRC, UN appeal for Palestinian hunger strikers

Int’l Red Cross urges Israel to transfer 6 prisoners to hospital, to allow family visits; UN also expresses concern.

 

GENEVA – The International Committee of the Red Cross called on Israel on Tuesday to transfer six Palestinians who have been on hunger strike for weeks to hospital and allow visits from their families.

PALESTINIANS RALLY in Ramallah for Prisoners Day - Photo: Mohamad Torokman/Reuters

PALESTINIANS RALLY in Ramallah for Prisoners Day - Photo: Mohamad Torokman/Reuters

All six are in prison under Israel’s long-standing policy of detaining people it suspects of security offenses or plotting attacks in a closed military proceeding between security forces and military judges rather than after a formal trial.

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Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| May 2, 2012
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Israel & the Region Foot-and-mouth disease hits Gaza, could spread further

UN agencies fear disease, which oriented from Egypt, could affect the region and beyond

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — A UN agency said Wednesday that Egypt’s outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease has reached the neighboring Gaza Strip and could soon spread across the Middle East.

The Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization said the disease was detected in Gaza’s southern border town of Rafah on April 19.

Juan Lubroth, FAO’s chief veterinary officer, says vaccines are in short supply and animal movement must be limited. He says the disease risks spreading to the Gulf, southern and eastern Europe and further.

The disease is not a direct threat to humans, but meat and milk from sick animals are unsafe for consumption. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: ,
| May 2, 2012
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What about UN crimes?

Op-ed: IDF actions pale in comparison to crimes committed by UN peacekeeping forces

 

The YouTube video of Israeli Lieutenant Colonel Shalom Eisner hitting a Danish provocateur “peace activist” with the butt of his gun has become world news. To get a better perspective on the true importance of this “affair,” one should compare it with the conduct of soldiers elsewhere in the world.

UN peacekeepers (archives) Photo: AP/Kyodo news

UN peacekeepers (archives) - Photo AP/Kyodo news

The best point of reference is the Peacekeeping Forces of the United Nations. This organization issued the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the non-initiated would expect its soldiers to be “a light unto the nations.” Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags:
| May 1, 2012
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Israel says inclusion on UN list ‘absurd’

JERUSALEM — Israel’s Foreign Ministry has criticized a U.N. statement that places the country on a list of nations it says are moving to further restrict advocacy and rights groups.

Spokesman Yigal Palmer on Monday called Israel’s inclusion on the list “absurd.”

Yigal Palmor - Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesman and Director of Press Department · Jerusalem, Israel

Yigal Palmor - Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesman and Director of Press Department · Jerusalem, Israel

The office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights issued the statement last week.

It criticized an Israeli law requiring groups to report more rigorously on funding from foreign governments.

The law’s supporters say Israel has a right to know who funds groups that oppose its policies. Continue Reading »

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