UN marks November 29 'day of mourning'While Israel celebrates date on which it was given a state by UN, latter plans anti-Israeli resolutionsYitzhak Benhorin
WASHINGTON – The UN is currently marking the historic date of November 29 1947, the day in which it approved the partition plan separating Israel into two states – Jewish and Arabic.
But while in Israel the date is celebratory, as it marks the end of the British mandate and the beginning of independent rule, the UN headquarters in New York and Geneva are holding ceremonies of mourning and solidarity with the Palestinian people.
Shalev to slam UN's one-sidedness (Photo: Shahar Azran)
The General Assembly in New York has embarked on a two-day marathon of anti-Israeli debates and votes, during which it plans to focus on the promotion of the Palestinian issue. Hearings will be held on subjects such as sovereignty over Jerusalem and the Golan Heights.
Israel has traditionally boycotted the debates due to their one-sidedness, but in recent years has changed its tune. Israel's ambassador to the UN, Gabriela Shalev, is scheduled to speak before the assembly Tuesday and condemn the UN tradition of memorializing the date on which Israel was given a state as a day of mourning.
The Palestinian Maan news agency reported that the Palestinian observer at the UN, Riyad Mansour, is expected to announce a "new diplomatic strategy" and ask the Security Council to define the 1967 borders as the new borders of a Palestinian state.
Last year the former president of the General Assembly, Miguel d'Escoto, accused Israel of apartheid during a speech before the UN.
The special debates are scheduled to begin Monday evening, and resolutions will be approved on the following day. Each year six of the 20 annual anti-Israel resolutions are passed by the November 29 assembly.
In addition, the UN will hold ceremonies and exhibitions on the Palestinian people and show a film on the subject.
'Don't call J'lem Palestinian capital'
Dec. 1, 2009Herb Keinon , THE JERUSALEM POST
Sweden's attempts to insert language into an EU resolution on the Middle East that would recognize east Jerusalem as the capital of a future independent Palestinian state harms European efforts to play a significant part in mediating between Israel and the Palestinians, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement issued Tuesday morning.
The statement followed a Haaretz report that the Swedes were pushing a resolution that will be discussed at a monthly meeting of EU ministers next week in Brussels that would officially call for the division of Jerusalem.
According to the Foreign Ministry statement, there is nothing new in the resolution.
However, as one Israeli diplomatic official pointed out, what is maddening from an Israeli view point is that the call for east Jerusalem to be the capital of an independent Palestinian state is not coupled with a call to recognize west Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
"This disrupts the balance," the official said, adding that the resolution is being pushed forward by the Swedes, who hold the rotating presidency of the EU, without any prior coordination with Israel.
The official pointed out that since taking over the presidency in July, Swedish Foreign Minster Carl Blidt has not visited the country once. He was scheduled to come in September, but his visit was cancelled following the angry Israeli reactions to the Aftonbladet newspaper article that accused Israeli soldiers of harvesting Palestinian organs.
The Foreign Ministry statement said that after the significant steps that Israel has taken to enable the renewal of negotiations with the Palestinians, a reference to the recent declaration of a moratorium on new housing starts in the West Bank, "the Europeans should be pressuring the Palestinians to return to the negotiation table. These types of moves being led by Sweden bring about the opposite result."
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