<http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/874031.html> Last update - 13:36 22/06/2007 U.S.-led move to back Abbas gov't blocked in Security Council By Shlomo Shamir, Haaretz Correspondent
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's office has openly backed the new Palestinian emergency government and recognized the authority of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, yet a Security Council bid to support Abbas and isolate Hamas has been thwarted by the objections of Russia, South Africa, Indonesia and Qatar.
The objections blocked a U.S. initiative for a Security Council declaration of confidence in the emergency government Wednesday.
Michael Williams, the secretary general's new Middle East envoy, voiced unequivocal support for Abbas and the Palestinian emergency government headed by Salam Fayad at a briefing on the Middle East for Security Council members two days ago.
The United States, supported by Britain and France, wants to add the Security Council to the international front supporting Abbas, which also includes the European Union and major Arab states. The American initiative also included a denunciation of the violence in the Gaza Strip.
However, the U.S. was forced to withdraw its initiative even before it reached the draft stage, due to strong objections from Russia, South Africa, Indonesia and Qatar.
UN sources in New York said that these countries' governments object to the anti-Hamas policy and to American and European efforts to isolate the group as a terror organization. They said that Russia and South Africa have questioned the legitimacy of the Palestinian emergency government and argued that a Palestinian unity government is not only still possible, but would be preferable to the emergency government headed by Fayad, which has authority in the West Bank only.
The South African ambassador argued that the international community, especially the U.S., Israel and the Quartet, are to blame for the situation in the Gaza Strip. The Indonesian ambassador complained that the Security Council was devoting time and energy to discussions of Lebanon but ignoring the Palestinian problem.
The Palestinian observer to the UN also objected to a declaration of support for the emergency government. The observer argued that such a declaration would constitute intervention in the PA's internal affairs.
Williams' address to the Security Council on Wednesday exposed the controversy between the UN secretary general and certain Security Council members regarding the desired response to the Palestinian emergency government.
Williams said that despite events, Gaza and the West Bank remained a single Palestinian territory that was legally ruled by the PA under Abbas's leadership. Now that Abbas has set up the emergency government headed by Fayad, he continued, it is vital that Israel and the international community provide immediate political and financial aid to Abbas and the new government, including transferring the Palestinian tax money that Israel has been withholding.
<http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=11656559&PageNum=0> Putin, SC members discuss Russia's internal, foreign policy 23.06.2007, 18.14
MOSCOW, June 23 (Itar-Tass) - President Vladimir Putin had a working meeting with permanent members of Russia's Security Council at the Volzhsky Utyos residence, Samara region, on Saturday.
Presidential spokesman Alexei Gromov told Itar-Tass the meeting involved Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov, Security Council Secretary Igor Ivanov, Fist Vice-Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov, Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev, FSB director Nikolai Patrushev, Foreign Intelligence Service director Sergei Lebedev, Federation Council chairman Sergei Mironov and State Duma speaker Boris Gryzlov.
The participants in the meeting discussed different issues related to Russia's internal and foreign policy. -- Yoshie