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2006-07-07 09:27:00	06GENEVA1673	US Mission Geneva	CONFIDENTIAL	06BERN1253	VZCZCXRO1654\
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RUEHYD/AMEMBASSY YAOUNDE PRIORITY 0056	C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 GENEVA 001673 \
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SIPDIS \
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SIPDIS \
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STATE FOR IO/RHS, DRL/MLA, L/HRR \
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E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/05/2016 \
TAGS: PHUM UNHRC
SUBJECT: HRC: SPECIAL SESSION ON PALESTINE \
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REF: A. A) BERN 1253 \
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     ¶B. B) GENEVA 1633 \
 \
Classified By: Political Counselor Velia De Pirro.  For reasons \
E.O. 12958, 1.4(b)(d). \
 \
¶1. (U) Summary:  The Human Rights Council concluded its first \
Special Session on July 6 with the passage of a resolution \
entitled "Human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian \
Territory" by a vote of 29-11-5.  The resolution demands that \
Israel end its military operations in the OPT, abide by \
international humanitarian law and human rights law, and \
refrain from imposing collective punishment on Palestinian \
civilians.  It also urges Israel to release arrested \
Palestinian ministers, members of the Palestinian Legislative \
Council, and all other arrested Palestinian civilians.  It \
decides to dispatch an urgent fact-finding mission led by the \
Special Rapporteur on the situation in the human rights in \
the OPT, John Dugard.  Swiss amendments intended to inject more \
balance into the resolution by calling on Palestinian armed \
groups to respect IHL and observe the Geneva Conventions were \
in turn watered down by the OIC to refer to "all concerned \
parties" rather than "Palestinian armed groups," and were \
superceded by the passage of an OIC amendment by a vote of \
28-0-17.  End Summary. \
 \
¶2.  (U) On July 6, the Human Rights Council concluded its \
Special Session on Palestine.  The session, which started \
July 5 and had been scheduled to run only a few hours, was \
extended when Swiss Ambassador Blaise Godet, apparently on \
direct orders of FM Micheline Calmy-Rey, introduced at the \
last moment three amendments to the OIC draft resolution \
(ref B). \
 \
¶3.  (U) The session opened with the presentation of the \
report by John Dugard, the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights \
Situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.  Dugard's \
statement blasted Israel's conduct as "morally indefensible," \
attacked the "economic sanctions" on the Palestinian people \
"imposed by the U.S.-controlled international banking system," \
and called for the withdrawal of the EU and the UN from the \
Quartet so that they could serve as "honest brokers" in a \
possible resumption of peace talks.  The full text of Mr. \
Dugard's statement has been e-mailed to the Department. \
(Note: At a briefing June 22 by the International \
Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission (IHFFC), Dugard noted that his \
reports on developments in the OPT had been well-received, except by \
Israel and the U.S.  He also commented that in the Third \
Committee, the U.S. typically complained that his reports \
were unbalanced, but when he asked the U.S. how, "the Americans \
have no further comment."  End note.) \
 \
¶4.  (SBU) The general debate opened with Pakistani Ambassador \
Masood Khan, on behalf of the OIC, criticizing the \
"disproportionate" Israeli attacks in Gaza and Israeli \
targeting of Palestinian institutions and infrastructure. \
Algeria, on behalf of the African Group, condemned Israeli \
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GENEVA 00001673  002 OF 003 \
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violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, \
and the arbitrary arrest and detention of Palestinian \
officials.  The African Group also expressed its solidarity \
with the Palestinian people in the exercise of "its right to \
self-determination, to return to its lands, to recover its \
belongings, and to live in peace and dignity in an independent \
Palestinian State having Jerusalem as its capital."  Mohammad \
Abu-Koash, Ambassador of the Palestine Observer Mission, \
rhetorically asked "is it self-defense to make an entire \
population suffer for one Israeli soldier, who was captured \
from a military base firing missiles against Palestinian \
civilians?"  We later learned that the July 5 African Group \
meeting had been extremely contentious, with Nigeria, Kenya \
and other southern African delegations angered by what they \
perceived to be the insensitivity of the northern African \
delegations to the group's vulnerability on the question of \
Sudan and insistence on focusing on the Israel/OPT question \
at the expense of all others. \
 \
¶5. (U) The EU, Canadian and Japanese statements all called \
for balance in the resolution, the end of terrorist \
activities by Palestinian actors, and the safe return of \
the abducted Israeli soldier.  Ambassador Tichenor delivered \
the U.S. statement (available at \
geneva.usmission.gov/Press2006/0705TichenorPa lestine \
Statement.html), which emphasized Hamas's role in the \
current crisis and the need for the Human Rights Council to \
promote and protect human rights in an even-handed, fair \
and equitable way. \
 \
¶6.  (U) The general debate was cut off by HRC President de \
Alba before all speakers had been allowed to speak, in order \
to allow time for a vote.  However, late on the afternoon of \
July 5, Switzerland angered most of its Western Group \
colleagues by introducing, with little advance notice and no \
consultation, three proposed amendments to the OIC \
resolution text.  The amendments highlighted the \
responsibilities of "Palestinian armed groups" with regard \
to respect of international humanitarian law and the need \
to treat detained combatants and civilians in accordance \
with the Geneva Conventions.  When the session resumed \
July 6, the OIC introduced a Palestinian-drafted \
sub-amendment to the Swiss amendments, which merged them \
into one and changed the term "Palestinian armed groups" \
to "all concerned parties."  As that sub-amendment was \
introduced last, it was voted on first, and passed by a \
vote of 28-0-17, obviating the need for a vote on the \
more pointed Swiss amendments.  (Note:  Switzerland called \
for the vote on the OIC amendment, saying it believed its \
amendments were better.  It abstained, however, on the vote. \
End note.)  The full amended OIC resolution was then put to \
a vote and passed by a vote of 29-11-5.  "No" votes were \
cast by Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, \
Japan, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Ukraine and the UK. \
The five abstentions were cast by Nigeria, Cameroon, \
Switzerland, South Korea and Mexico.  Both Djibouti and \
Gabon were absent for the vote. \
 \
¶7.  (U) After final voting had concluded on the Palestine \
resolution text, Pakistani Ambassador Khan was given the \
floor one final time on an exceptional basis by President \
de Alba for a general comment.  Khan then proceed to lambast \
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GENEVA 00001673  003 OF 003 \
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and taunt delegations that had lost the vote, claiming that \
he could not see what those delegations, who had either \
voted no or abstained, had found objectionable in the \
resolution text.  Khan exceeded his speaking time limit, \
and would not yield the floor when President de Alba gavelled \
him to stop.  Khan then argued with de Alba, taking the floor \
again to argue that he was perfectly within his right to \
give a final statement, although no such rule of procedure \
appears to exist granting the right to a final comment. \
 \
¶8. (C) Western Group members were angered by the way in which \
Switzerland, who serves as Bureau Vice Chair for the Western \
Group, introduced its amendments despite the very real risk \
of splitting the Western Group and weakening Western \
opposition to the unbalanced OIC resolution.  Although we \
understand from reftel (a) that the Swiss delegation in \
Geneva was following instructions directly from FM Calmy-Rey, \
WHRG partners are questioning whether the Swiss desire to be \
a "bridge-builder" at the Council may be incompatible with \
its obligations to work closely with its WHRG partners. \
Several Western delegations in Geneva intend to raise this \
point with the Swiss delegation here over the coming days. \
CASSEL \