Posted on 08/17/2005 9:56:11 PM PDT by M. Espinola
The United Nations is embroiled in a dispute with American Jewish organizations over the funding of Palestinian banners in Gaza, and US Ambassador John Bolton on Wednesday protested the "unacceptable" payments.
The dispute centers on the UN Development Program's payment for materials produced by the Palestinian Authority for Israel's disengagement from Gaza which include banners saying: "Gaza Today. The West Bank and Jerusalem Tomorrow."
The American Jewish Congress protested in a letter Monday to the Development Program's new administrator, Kemal Dervis, that UNDP was paying for Palestinian "propaganda" when the future status of the West Bank and Jerusalem are still disputed.
In a letter Tuesday to top officials from the American Jewish Congress, Dervis said UNDP was encouraged by donors and others to help facilitate Israel's peaceful withdrawal from Gaza and help ensure stability during the pullout.
"As part of this effort, UNDP provided support for communications to the public and media in Gaza, the content of which was the responsibility of the PA (Paliestinian Authority)," he wrote in the letter obtained by The Associated Press.
Dervis indicated that the content - and inclusion of the UNDP logo - were decisions left to the Palestinians.
He agreed with the American Jewish Congress that "the Palestinian Authority is certainly entitled to express its political sentiments." But what is unacceptable, he said, is the use of UNDP's logo on the Palestinian message, which was first reported by The New York Times on Monday.
"UNDP takes the need for complete political neutrality very seriously," Dervis said, adding that while the agency's mandate includes helping entities to improve their ability to govern effectively "we cannot be involved in political messaging."
In a statement Wednesday, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations expressed "deep disappointment" that Dervis avoided the issues of "the inappropriate allocation of funds and the lack of supervisory mechanisms."
The group, which represents 52 national Jewish organizations, complained that there has been a history of violations of "political neutrality" regarding the Palestinians - including in this case. It said it has asked Secretary-General Kofi Annan "for a full investigation and examination of UNDP's operations with the Palestinians to put an end to these outrageous practices."
When queried about the US government's response, Bolton said in a brief statement that "Funding this kind of activity is inappropriate and unacceptable."
"We plan to raise the issue with UNDP and with others," he said.
Rep. Ileana Ros Lehtinen, a Florida Republican and member of the House International Relations Committee, said it was "outrageous" that instead of alleviating poverty UNDP "has reportedly assisted Hamas to spread its messages of incitement in the heat and emotion of Israel's withdrawal from Gaza settlements."
UNDP said a meeting with US officials has been scheduled on Thursday.
"We have directly sought assurances from the Palestinian Authority that no further such materials will be produced with the funds we made available to them for their overall communications efforts during the withdrawal," said UNDP spokesman William Orme.
Dervis has made clear "that UNDP must be strictly neutral and cannot be in the business of supporting political sloganeering of any kind anywhere," he said.
"There have been very clear instructions sent that this was inappropriate and should not be repeated," Orme said.
Good for Bolton; the right man for a very dirty job!
Hope Bolton did'nt make any UN scum cry.
The U.N. just hands out money to the Palestinians and requires no accountability. But that's their typical mode of operation when giving money to any country. The U.N. isn't even accountable to itself.
I hope he did, and then continues to for a long time.
And by the way, the behavior of the Palestinians is contemptible. I have seen some of the heart-wrenching videos of settlers being dragged away and soldiers crying. If the Palestinians had any class they would keep the rhetoric down -- at least until their next rocket attack.
Good job Mr.Bolton, sir!
Let the world know what the useless crooks are up to!
The UN is paying for signs that read:
"Gaza Today. The West Bank and Jerusalem Tomorrow."
And US tax dollars are paying for this? Thank the Lord the POTUS just put Big John in, to start kicking ass. These scum bags are as bad in many ways, no they are actually worse, then Muslim terrorist!
Tis very late on east coast USA, I am signing off, but just
could not pass on this one.
Heartwrenching news coverage today. I don't understand negotiating with terrorists and giving them land. Doesn't make sense indeed.
Just wrong.
Yeah. My heart was breaking when FOX showed Israeli's being forced to leave their homes. It's hard to believe the Palestinian squatters got away with this. It's surreal. It's like an episode of the Twilight Zone.
"Just wrong."
Indeed it is. I gotta hit the sack. Eyes are bleary. Have a nice morning/evening.
I am not even Jewish, but as a fellow human being I had to cry watching the evictions. I even feel sorry for the soldiers having to obey orders to take away crying children and praying Rabbis while Palestinian militants celebrated. What makes it even worse, in my opinion, is that it is all for naught. Israel's sacrifice won't bring them peace. The Palestinians see the disengagement as their victory and are already plotting to take the next piece of land.
By retreating from the liberated historical Jewish lands, Israel is assisting the Arab Islamo-fascist terrorists in achieving their goal of the total destruction of Israel and the annihilation of the Jewish people.
Israel is enabling and empowering the Arab Islamo-fascist terrorists to attack Jewish and American targets in Israel and elsewhere, by following the course of appeasement, capitulation, and rewarding Arab terrorism as defined by former president Bill Clinton.
This is a sad day for all who support freedom, justice, and real peace, which comes through strength, military superiority, and the ability and will to defeat your sworn enemies.
Israel made a major mistake by not annexing all land liberated in the Six-Day War of Arab aggression against Israel in 1967, and deporting the Arabs in the liberated lands to their respective countries - Egypt, Jordan, and Syria.
Israel is only destroying the deterrent value of its military and inviting future wars of aggression by giving up historical Jewish land liberated from Arab countries in Arab wars of aggression against Israel. It shows the hostile and anti-Israel, anti-American Arabs that they have everything to gain and nothing to lose by initiating a war of aggression against Israel.
If they capture Jewish land, they can keep it, desecrate and destroy the Jewish temples, cemeteries, and biblical historical sites (e.g., Joseph's tomb, the Temple Mount, and others), and murder all the Jews they want. If they lose land to Israel, all they have to do is wait long enough and they will eventually get it back. What a great deal for the Arabs!
The Arab countries and leaders have failed to live up to their agreements with Israel and cannot be trusted. In fact, the Koran instructs Muslims to use deception to entrap and kill the infidels.
They continue to indoctrinate their people, including their children, with extreme Nazi-style antisemitic, anti-Israel, and anti-American propaganda in their print and broadcast media and in their school educational materials. The Arabs teach their children that all of Israel is their inheritance stolen from them by the Jews.
There cannot possibly be peace in Israel until after at least two generations of the Arabs teaching their children to have love and peace in their hearts and minds rather than mass murder and destruction. And there is no indication that this process will start any time soon. Anyone who believes otherwise is deluding themselves.
Many Jews and Americans want peace in Israel so strongly that they have deluded themselves into believing it is possible simple because they want it strongly enough. The world does not work that way. If it did, there would be peace on Earth and no famine or disease, everyone could be as rich as Bill Gates, and everyone could live forever.
As a result of Arab Islam-fascist terrorism in Israel, Israel has suffered the equivalent of twenty-three September 11, 2001 World Trade Center Arab Islamic terrorist attacks in the last 4.8 years, when scaling for the relative populations of Israel and the U.S. See the following link for more information:
http://www.fraudfactor.com/#islamic_terror_update
This is so obvious. Why the world doesn't see it is beyond me. I can only conclude it is because the Arabs have oil.
Absolutely and thank GOD that President Bush thumbed his nose at the damned Dems and sent Bolton to the UN!
This is just going to be so much damn fun. Sit back, relax, enjoy the show.
The next time Hamas launches a terror attack against Israelis, after the shame Israelis have had to endure in Gaza, the justice shall be shift!
And could you please ping me to all of the goodies, when I'm away? I'll explain in FREEPmail. THANKS. :-)
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