MALTA WILL VOTE FOR UNGA RESOLUTIONS EXTENDING

C O N F I D E N T I A L VALLETTA 000511 SIPDIS DEPT FOR IO/UNP ANDREW MORRISON E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/19/2019 TAGS: PREL UNGA KPAL IS SY LE MT SUBJECT: MALTA WILL VOTE FOR UNGA RESOLUTIONS EXTENDING PALESTINIAN COMMISSIONS REF: A. STATE 118799 ¶B. VALLETTA 507 ¶C. VALLETTA 498 Classified By: AMB DOUGLAS KMIEC,REASONS 1.4(B) AND (D) ¶1. (C) Following deliver of reftel a demarche November 19, DCM and PolOff met November 20 with MFA Acting Director for Global Issues, Mariella Grech. Grech thanked DCM and PolOff for providing U.S. views and expressed an understanding of the unhelpful nature of one-sided resolutions in eroding confidence in the role of the UN and damaging its institutional credibility. However, she indicated that Malta will vote in favor of the three specific resolutions singled out by the demarche, i.e., extending the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People (the "Committee"); the Division for Palestinian Rights (the "Division"); and the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories (the "Special Committee"). Malta is a member of the Committee and is active in the Division (created within the Committee). Long-term Malta opposition Labor Party (PL) MP and former Malta Foreign Minister George Vella is active in the Committee's program. Ambassador Saviour Borg, Malta's Permanent Representative to the UN is the Committee's Rapporteur. ¶2. (C) Grech agreed to discuss the matter further with MFA officials, and to encourage Malta's UN delegation to be in touch with the U.S. Mission. However, given Malta's active involvement in the Committee and their PermRep's leading position, any change in attitude is deemed unlikely. ¶3. (SBU) Malta has long seen itself as a potential venue for informal negotiations between the two sides (see reftel C) and feels maintining its independence from other European states and the U.S. is an important part of its neutral position. It was one of four EU states to vote to endorse the conclusions of the Goldstone Report. KMIEC