Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08PARIS2141
2008-11-21 12:39:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Paris
Cable title:
FRENCH TO ABSTAIN ON ANTI-ISRAEL RESOLUTIONS
how-toVZCZCXRO6680 OO RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHNP RUEHROV RUEHSR DE RUEHFR #2141 3261239 ZNY CCCCC ZZH O 211239Z NOV 08 ZDK FM AMEMBASSY PARIS TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4906 INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE PRIORITY RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY RHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L PARIS 002141
SIPDIS
IO/UNP FOR ANDREW MORRISON
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/21/2023
TAGS: PGOV PREL UNGA IS PA LE SY FR
SUBJECT: FRENCH TO ABSTAIN ON ANTI-ISRAEL RESOLUTIONS
REF: STATE 123081
Classified By: Political Counselor Andrew Young, reasons 1.4 (b) and (d
).
(C) POLOFF delivered reftel demarche November 20 to Jay
Dharmadhikari, who handles the Middle East portfolio in the
MFA's IO-equivalent. Dharmadhikari said France shared the
goal of reducing the number of biased anti-Israel
resolutions, agreeing that such resolutions were redundant
and unhelpful to the peace process. He noted that France,
which currently holds the EU presidency, must remain in
lockstep with the EU consensus, which is to once again
abstain on most of the resolutions in question. He noted
that the French had worked with both the Israeli and the
Palestinian missions in New York to try to reduce the number
of Middle East resolutions, and believed they had succeeded
in laying the groundwork for a smaller number of resolutions
next year and the year after. Dharmadhikari noted that
France shares the U.S. concern about the Committee on the
Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People,
the Division for Palestinian Rights within the UN
Secretariat, and the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli
Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian
People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories.
STAPLETON