Cablegate: Guidance: Anti-Israel Resolutions in the Unga

VZCZCXYZ0018
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHC #2724 3350029
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 010025Z DEC 09
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO USMISSION USUN NEW YORK IMMEDIATE 8900

UNCLAS STATE 122724

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
USUN PLEASE PASS GERMAIN AND MASILKO

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PTER UNSC KPAL IS
SUBJECT: GUIDANCE: ANTI-ISRAEL RESOLUTIONS IN THE UNGA
PLENARY

1. (U) This is an action message.

2. (U) Mission should call for the vote and vote "no" on
resolutions put up for adoption on December 1 and 2 dealing
with the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights
of the Palestinian People, the Division for Palestinian
Rights of the Secretariat, the Special Information Programme
on the Question of Palestine of the Department of Public
Information of the Secretariat, and the Peaceful Settlement
of the Question of Palestine, as well as resolutions dealing
with Jerusalem and the Syrian Golan. Mission may draw from
para 3 blocks in making an summary explanation of vote (EOV)
on anti-Israeli resolutions in the UNGA plenary.

3. (SBU) Begin EOV Blocks:

-- Mr. President, with respect to the situation in the Middle
East, the United States has clearly stated our policy that
there should be two states, Israel and Palestine, living side
by side in peace and security.

-- Therefore, we are deeply saddened to once again be
presented with unbalanced resolutions that -- unlike the
General Assembly's action with respect to any other member
state, geographic area or issue -- places demands on Israel
while failing to acknowledge that both sides have obligations
and must take difficult steps. While the United States
accepts the principle that the General Assembly may look into
the practices of individual states, the resolutions under
this agenda item -- in combination with over fifteen other
resolutions that will come before the General Assembly this
year, as every year -- form a clear pattern of institutional
bias directed at one member state of the United Nations. This
is particularly disappointing because the United States has
clearly demonstrated its renewed commitment to working with
international institutions. We would hope to see in return a
commitment by those organizations to changing the way they
deal with issues such as these.

-- Of particular concern to the United States are three
resolutions concerning entities established more than a
generation ago that perpetuate institutional bias. The
millions of dollars expended on the Division for Palestinian
Rights of the Secretariat, the Committee on the Exercise of
the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, and the
Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting
the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of
the Occupied Territories, could be better directed toward
more pressing issues, including direct assistance to needy
Palestinians, as could the staff resources taken up by these
entities.

-- We reiterate our call for all member states to review
seriously the continued existence of these bodies with a
sharp focus on what, if anything, they actually contribute
towards a solution to the Middle East conflict.

-- Mr. President, in addition to these three resolutions, the
General Assembly will consider other resolutions that
presuppose the outcome of permanent status issues, including
the status of refugees and the status of Jerusalem. These
issues properly belong in bilateral negotiations.
Resolutions such as these undermine the institutional
credibility of the UN, as they cast into doubt the UN's
impartiality. This, in turn, serves to discredit the UN's
important role, acting through the Quartet, in supporting the
resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

-- We believe that through good-faith negotiations the
parties can mutually agree on an outcome which ends the
conflict and reconciles the Palestinians' goal of an
independent and viable state based on the 1967 lines, with
agreed territoral swaps, and the Israeli goal of a Jewish
state with secure and recognized borders that reflect
subsequent developments and meet Israeli security
requirements. Our commitment to achieving a solution with
two states living side by side in peace is unwavering.

-- It is impossible to see how supporting resolutions
reviewing the mandate of entities with an institutional bias
or that intrude into the substance of negotiations contribute
to this effort. Therefore, we cannot support these
resolutions and we call on this Assembly to repudiate them as
well.

End EOV blocks.
CLINTON

© Scoop Media