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O 022040Z MAY 08
FM USMISSION USUN NEW YORK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4203
INFO RUEHGG/UN SECURITY COUNCIL COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 USUN NEW YORK 000394 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PTER KPAL KWBG KPKO UNSC SY IS LE LY
SUBJECT: MIDDLE EAST: USUN LEADS WALK-OUT AFTER LIBYA 
COMPARES GAZA TO NAZI CAMPS 
 
REF: USUN 280 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary.  The UNSC held its monthly discussion on 
the Middle East on April 23.  Following last month's 
rancorous debate (reftel), SC members agreed to a public 
briefing by the UN Secretariat, followed by closed 
consultations.  DPA A/SYG Angela Kane briefed on recent 
attacks in Gaza and southern Israel, the worsening 
humanitarian situation in Gaza, continuing settlement 
expansion and barriers to movement in the West Bank, and the 
Friends of Lebanon statement adopted in Kuwait on April 22. 
Most Council members repeated standard positions criticizing 
Palestinian rocket and other attacks against Israel as well 
as Israel's "disproportionate" and "excessive" military 
operations in Gaza.  They also criticized continuing Israeli 
settlement activity and lack of progress towards dismantling 
barriers to movement. France and Panama supported former 
President Carter's recent efforts. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Summary, cont'd.  At the end of the morning's 
consultations, Costa Rica and South Africa complained at 
length that the Council "just listened" to repeated briefings 
about a worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza but failed 
to take any action.  Costa Rica then proposed a short UNSC 
press statement expressing concern about the humanitarian 
situation and the security situation, which the Council 
considering during an afternoon session.  After Amb Wolff 
said the U.S. could not support a statement that did not 
address the terrorist rocket and other recent attacks, Libyan 
Polcouns Ibrahim al-Dabbashi angrily responded that the 
situation in Gaza was worse than in concentration camps of 
Nazi Germany.  At this point, Amb Wolff walked-out of the 
consultations, and was followed by the French PR, Belgian PR, 
Costa Rican DPR, and British DPR. Dabbashi continued 
speaking, arguing that the core problem of the conflict is 
Israel's continued occupation of Palestinian lands, which he 
argued justified and explained rocket attacks and suicide 
bombs.  Dabbashi reiterated his remarks to the press on April 
24 and claimed they represented official Libyan Government 
policy.  End summary. 
 
DPA Links Gaza Crisis to Terrorism 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) DPA A/SYG Angela Kane briefed the Council in a 
public meeting followed by closed consultations April 23. 
Kane said that 69 Palestinians and six Israelis had been 
killed in the reporting period in Palestinian attacks and 
Israeli military operations.  She reiterated the SYG's 
condemnation of rocket or other attacks against civilians or 
crossing points into Gaza as well as his condemnation of 
civilian casualties in IDF operations.  Describing the 
humanitarian situation in Gaza, Kane noted that the attacks 
on the fuel depot at Nahal Oz and the Kerem Shalom crossing 
had caused the situation to worsen.  Her report on the 
deterioration of the humanitarian situation included the fact 
that 15-20 percent of the population only had access to water 
for three-five hours every four days, a point later picked up 
by South African PermRep Kumalo who claimed this condition 
was worse than anything he had experienced as a child in 
Zululand under apartheid. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Kane recalled Israel's intention to remove obstacles 
in the West Bank, but reported that of the 44 obstacles 
actually removed (out of the 61 Israel said it would remove), 
only 5 were significant obstacles to movement and the other 
39 did not appear on the list of obstacles previously 
maintained by the UN.  She criticized Israel's continuing 
settlement activity.  Turning to Lebanon, Kane recalled 
Secretariat support for the Friends of Lebanon statement 
 
SIPDIS 
adopted on April 22.  She briefed the Council on the March 
30-31 incident in south Lebanon in which a UNIFIL patrol was 
blocked from searching a truck carrying armed personnel, 
noted this was the first time UNIFIL had confirmed the 
presence of unauthorized armed elements in south Lebanon 
since August 2006, and described UNIFIL-LAF efforts to 
prevent a recurrence of the violation. 
 
Criticism of Israel and Hamas 
----------------------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) Most Council members repeated familiar positions 
criticizing both rocket and other attacks against Israel as 
well as Israel's "disproportionate" and "excessive" military 
operations in Gaza.  Most delegates also criticized the 
closure of Gaza and continuing settlement expansion in the 
West Bank.  Russia said preparations for the Moscow 
Conference continue and that the Syrian-Israeli and 
Lebanon-Israeli tracks should also be addressed.  After 
 
USUN NEW Y 00000394  002 OF 002 
 
 
recalling its support for the EU position that Hamas must 
fulfill the Quartet conditions, in particular the 
renunciation of violence, France expressed support for former 
President Carter's recent efforts.  Panama also expressed 
support for President Carter's efforts to engage Hamas. 
China, Russia, and Indoensia explicitly called for unity 
between Hamas and Fatah.  Croatia strongly supported Israel's 
right to self-defense, while calling for all actions to be in 
accordance with international law. 
 
Libya Compares Gaza to Nazi Camps 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) At the end of the consultations, Costa Rica and 
South Africa complained at length that the Council "just 
listened" to briefings about Gaza that describe a worsening 
humanitarian situation, while consistently failing to take 
any action.  The South African PermRep also accused the 
United States of double standards, arguing that the U.S. 
sought action on domestic matters in countries such as Burma 
and Zimbabwe while refusing to address the crisis in Gaza 
that posed a unambiguous threat to international peace and 
security (the Council's charter).  Costa Rica then proposed a 
UNSC press statement to encourage the parties to continue 
their negotiations, express concern about the humanitarian 
situation in Gaza, and welcome the April 22 statement adopted 
by the Friends of Lebanon in Kuwait.  South Africa, Libya, 
Indonesia, France, and Italy expressed support for such a 
statement.  Russia welcomed the proposal but said it could 
not agree to any reference to the April 22 Lebanon statement 
without more time to consult Moscow.  Given the sensitive 
issues involved, delegations then agreed to reconsider the 
proposed statement during afternoon consultations. 
 
¶7. (SBU) When delegations reconvened in the afternoon, Amb 
Wolff said the U.S. could not support a statement that did 
not address the terrorist rocket and other attacks that 
caused the deterioration in the humanitarian situation in 
Gaza, nor one that ignored the illegal Hamas take-over of 
Gaza -- on which the UNSC has never pronounced itself. 
Libyan PolCouns Ibrahim al-Dabbashi then launched an angry 
appeal for the Council to take action on Gaza, and said the 
treatment of Palestinians in Gaza was "worse than the 
concentration camps of Nazi Germany."  At this point, Amb 
Wolff walked-out of the consultations, and was followed by 
the French PR, Belgian PR, Costa Rican DPR, and British DPR, 
in that order.  Dabbashi continued his intervention, 
asserting that the primary cause of the conflict is Israel's 
continued occupation of Palestinian land, which justified and 
explained rocket attacks and suicide bombs.  In comments to 
the press one day later, Dabbashi reaffirmed his earlier 
remarks, and said they represented the policy of the Libyan 
Government. 
 
Lebanon: Support for Friends Statement 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) European delegations as well as Burkina Faso 
expressed support for the Friends of Lebanon statement 
adopted on April 22 in Kuwait.  Several of these countries 
called for presidential elections to be held immediately 
without prior conditions and for Lebanon and Syria to 
normalize their relationship.  Libya, South Africa, and 
Indonesia were also prepared to "welcome" the Kuwait 
declaration in the context of the press statement on Gaza 
proposed by Costa Rica.  The Russian Mission told USUN that 
Moscow had issued "strong instructions" to block any 
reference to the Kuwait statement because Russia was 
reportedly invited to the Friends of Lebanon meeting at the 
last minute and shown a copy of the proposed declaration 20 
minutes before it was supposed to be adopted.  "That is no 
way to treat a lady," complained the Russian Middle East 
expert. 
Khalilzad