Secret UN report condemns US for Middle East failures

[kskiska]

Source: The Guardian

Envoy's damning verdict revealed as violence takes Gaza closer to civil war

The highest ranking UN official in Israel has warned that American pressure has "pummelled into submission" the UN's role as an impartial Middle East negotiator in a damning confidential report.

The 53-page "End of Mission Report" by Alvaro de Soto, the UN's Middle East envoy, obtained by the Guardian, presents a devastating account of failed diplomacy and condemns the sweeping boycott of the Palestinian government. It is dated May 5 this year, just before Mr de Soto stepped down.

The revelations from inside the UN come after another day of escalating violence in Gaza, when at least 26 Palestinians were killed after Hamas fighters launched a major assault. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, head of the rival Fatah group, warned he was facing an attempted coup.

Mr de Soto condemns Israel for setting unachievable preconditions for talks and the Palestinians for their violence. Western-led peace negotiations have become largely irrelevant, he says.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,2101677,00.html

[maddezmom]

1. U.N. Mideast line swayed by U.S., Israel: ex-envoy

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - A former U.N. Middle East envoy quit his job last month making bitter allegations that U.N. policy in the region had failed because it was subservient to U.S. and Israeli interests, according to a leaked document.

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In a confidential end-of-mission report, seen by Reuters, Alvaro de Soto poured scorn on the Quartet negotiating group of the United States, Russia, European Union and United Nations, and suggested the world body should pull out.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Wednesday the report represented De Soto's personal views and disputed his former envoy's conclusion that the Quartet had become a "side-show."

De Soto, a Peruvian diplomat who formerly worked on El Salvador, Cyprus and the Western Sahara, spent two years on the Middle East before resigning in May, ending a 25-year U.N. career. He was replaced by Briton Michael Williams.


more:http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070613/wl_nm/mideast_un_desoto_dc

[IndianaGreen]

2. This report is an "Inconvenient Truth."

One that powerful and influential forces in our country do not want the American people to know.

The blame begins with the Johnson Administration which chose a lie over the truths being told by the officers and crewmen of the USS Liberty. The lies have been piling on ever since.

On a sadder note, the entire region is going up in flames, threatening to engulf countries such as Jordan. Not a very happy neighborhood to pitch one's tents.

Bush doesn't care, he is just waiting for the Second Coming.

[Supersedeas]

3. nothing to see here -- time to tart up the evening news, for younger viewers benefit