Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09PARTO10901
2009-01-09 23:54:00
UNCLASSIFIED
US Delegation, Secretary
Cable title:  

(U) Secretary Rice's Participation in the January 6,

Tags:  OVIP RICE CONDOLEEZZA PREL UNSC IS 
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 PARTO 010901 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: OVIP RICE CONDOLEEZZA PREL UNSC IS
SUBJECT: (U) Secretary Rice's Participation in the January 6,
2009 Security Council Meeting on Gaza

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 PARTO 010901

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: OVIP RICE CONDOLEEZZA PREL UNSC IS
SUBJECT: (U) Secretary Rice's Participation in the January 6,
2009 Security Council Meeting on Gaza


1. SUMMARY. The Security Council, with participation from
the President of the Palestinian Authority, the Israel
Permanent Representative, the Secretary-General of the Arab
League, Foreign Ministers of Saudi Arabia, Norway, Egypt,
Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, and Qatar, met in an open session on
January 6 to consider the crisis in Gaza. Participants
roundly called for an immediate end to the violence, and
several participants criticized the Council for taking no
action. Secretary Rice emphasized the need for a durable
solution. A verbatim record and a summary of each speaker's
remarks can be found at www.un.org. END SUMMARY.

--------------
KOUCHNER CALLS FOR IMMEDIATE CEASE-FIRE
--------------


2. French Foreign Minister Kouchner chaired the meeting,
since France holds the rotating Security Council presidency.
Speaking in his national capacity, Kouchner opened the debate,
vowing "to do the utmost so that the violence will cease."
Kouchner recalled the Security Council's "essential role to
play" in creating the conditions for a lasting cease-fire. He
called for an immediate cessation of the rocket attacks into
Israel from Gaza, and condemned the Israeli ground offensive
into Gaza. He also endorsed the cease-fire plan that had been
announced earlier in the day by Egyptian President Hosni
Mubarak in a joint press conference with French President
Nicolas Sarkozy, and said he awaited the Israeli response.
Kouchner said necessary conditions for a durable cease-fire
included the permanent opening of crossings between Gaza and
Israel and a halt to arms smuggling into Gaza. Kouchner also
thought an international monitoring mechanism might be
necessary, and said France would be willing to contribute to
such an effort.

--------------
BAN KI-MOON CALLS FOR UN ACTION
--------------


3. Secretary-General (SYG) Ban Ki-moon urged the Council to
immediately "move from debate into action." Ban reported UN
estimates of dead or wounded in the preceding 11 days due to
the Israeli bombing of Gaza to be 570 Palestinians killed and
over 2700 injured. In addition, he said four Israeli
civilians had been killed and dozens more injured from more
than 500 rocket attacks from Gaza during the same period.
Five Israeli soldiers had also been killed, with about 50 more

injured. The SYG called an Israeli attack on three schools
being used as a place of refuge by the UN Relief and Works
Agency (UNRWA),"totally unacceptable," and said the rocket
attacks into Israel were also "unacceptable." He said Gaza
was in the midst of a humanitarian crisis that could only be
resolved with an end to the violence. He had engaged world
leaders, including President Bush in Washington, and Arab
leaders in New York earlier in the day, stressing that the
violence must end. He said he planned to travel to Israel,
the Palestinian territories, and regional capitals during the
week of January 12, but urged the Council not to wait until
then to act. He said a viable international mechanism would
be necessary to ensure the borders were properly functioning,
and he called on member states to respond generously to an
appeal for humanitarian assistance.


--------------
ABBAS TO COUNCIL: SAVE MY PEOPLE
--------------


4. Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority,
said he had come to the Council to seek help for a "wounded
people" who were under siege. He called on the Council to
adopt a resolution calling for a "full and immediate cessation
of Israeli aggression." He argued that delay on the part of
the Council would make young people lose faith in the
legitimacy of international law. Abbas offered his support
for the Mubarak/Sarkozy cease-fire plan. He called for an
opening to all border crossings between Gaza and Israel, an
end to Israeli checkpoints and detentions of Palestinians, and
an international force to ensure peace. Abbas acknowledged
efforts of the Arab League, led by Egypt, to help achieve
reconciliation among Palestinian factions. He pledged that
the Palestinians did not want to threaten anyone's security,
but also did not want their security threatened by others.

-------------- --------------
ISRAEL PERMREP TO COUNCIL: MAKE GOOD ON YOUR PROMISES
-------------- --------------


5. Israeli PermRep Gabriela Shalev urged the Council to place
the responsibility for the humanitarian situation in Gaza on
the shoulders of the Hamas "terrorists who have chosen
violence over peace." She said that in the past eight years
(referring to the September 2000 beginning of the second
Palestinian uprising),more than 8,000 rockets had targeted
Israeli towns. No state would allow such attacks on its
citizens, but Israel had sought every way to avoid the current
conflict. Shalev noted that Israel had withdrawn its military
and its soldiers from Gaza in 2005 in an effort to create an
opening for peace. She also recalled the six month Egyptian-
brokered "period of calm" that had been repeatedly violated by
Hamas, until finally Hamas had unilaterally withdrawn from it.
Shalev welcomed the condemnation by many Council members of
Hamas' attacks, but said Israel citizens would not be
protected by condemnations alone. Israel had no choice but to
defend itself, she said, adding that Israel had taken every
possible measure to protect civilians, including by dropping
leaflets urging civilians to leave the areas of terrorist
operation to avoid harm. She made clear that Israel would not
stop attacking Hamas terrorists just because they were using
civilians for cover, as that would be "an invitation to every
terrorist group in the world to set up shop inside a hospital
or kindergarten." She called on the international community to
make good on a promise that Israel's 2005 withdrawal from Gaza
and its restraint during violations of the "period of calm"
would give Israel credibility to fight back should the rocket
attacks resume.

--------------
SECRETARY RICE CALLS FOR DURABLE CEASE-FIRE
--------------


6. The Secretary reinforced the United States' deep concern
with the situation in Gaza. She said she and President Bush
are personally committed to finding a solution that does not
allow Hamas to use Gaza as a launching pad against Israeli
cities. She pointed out that the Hamas decision not to
respect the previous "period of calm" shows that a return to
the status quo ante would not work. Instead a durable and
sustainable cease-fire would be necessary to create the
conditions for real security. This would include an end to
rocket attacks on Israeli towns, cessation of arms smuggling
into Gaza, and reopening of crossings. The Secretary said she
had been engaged on seeking a solution "day and night", and
she expressed deep concern with the current humanitarian
situation. She told the Council that Israeli Prime Minister
Olmert had informed her that Israel would open a humanitarian
corridor on January 7. She pledged U.S. assistance in
distributing humanitarian goods and offered additional U.S.
contributions to emergency relief if needed.

--------------
LIBYA SUBMITS DRAFT RESOLUTION
--------------


7. Libyan Foreign Secretary Abdurrahman Mohamad Shalgam
placed blame for the crisis on Israel, and chided the Council
for its "astonishing silence" in the face of Israeli attacks
on Gaza and Israeli rejection of appeals for a humanitarian
passageway. Shalgam urged the Council to adopt a Libyan
drafted resolution that would "ensure an immediate end to
Israel's aggression."

-------------- --------------
WIDE CONDEMNATION OF BOTH HAMAS AND ISRAEL, SUPPORT FOR
MUBARAK/SARKOZY PLAN
-------------- --------------


8. Most speakers in the meeting called for both Hamas to
cease firing rockets into Israel and for Israel to cease its
assault on Gaza. All speakers urged an immediate cease-fire,
and deplored the unfolding humanitarian tragedy. Most members of
the Council underscored the need for opening crossings from
Gaza into Israel, preventing the smuggling of munitions into
Gaza, and a process to achieve reconciliation among the
Palestinians as part of a durable cease-fire. Some speakers
from Arab nations, as well as Council members Turkey, Austria,
and Mexico cited a disproportionate Israeli response to Hamas
rockets or an excessive use of force on the part of Israel.
British Foreign Secretary Miliband, Russian Deputy Foreign
Minister Yakovenko, Egyptian Foreign Minister Aboul Gheit, and
Arab League SYG Moussa supported the Mubarak/Sarkozy cease-
fire plan, but Moussa emphasized that the French-Egypt effort
had only become necessary due to the Council's
procrastination. Foreign Ministers from Saudi Arabia, Jordan,
Lebanon and Qatar pleaded for the Council to take action
against the growing humanitarian crisis.


RICE