Dear Ms. Saskia Ramming - About those rockets, a couple of questions?

...Robert Serry, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process has issued a statement that during his meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, Mr. Serry was assured that the Fatah-Hamas reconciliation deal "will be implemented under the leadership of the President and on the basis of the PLO commitments....President Abbas emphasized that these commitments include recognition of Israel, non-violence, and adherence to previous agreements."

Dr. Aaron Lerner..
IMRA..
24 April '14..




Question to spokesperson relating to statement by Robert Serry regarding assurances he received from President Abbas

Dear Ms. Saskia Ramming, Spokesperson, Office of the United Nations Special
Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process,

According to the UN News Centre report of 24 April 2014
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=47649#.U1mW2rmKC00

Robert Serry, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process has issued a statement that during his meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, Mr. Serry was assured that the Fatah-Hamas reconciliation deal "will be implemented under the leadership of the President and on the basis of the PLO commitments....President Abbas emphasized that these commitments include recognition of Israel, non-violence, and adherence to previous agreements."

Question: Given that Hamas boasts that it has deployed large numbers of missiles in the Gaza Strip and keeping in mind that this is most certainly in clear violation of "PLO commitments" and "previous agreements":

(a) Does Mr. Serry expect that implementation of the Fatah-Hamas reconciliation deal will include the removal and/or destruction of these missiles from the Gaza Strip?

All Set to Be a Failed State

Rick Richman
Commentary/Contentions
13 April '11


http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2011/04/13/all-set-to-be-a-failed-state/

Today Robert Serry, the “UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process,” presents his report on Palestinian state-building efforts—“as we approach the September 2011 target for the PA’s institutions to be ready for statehood.” Serry thinks the efforts are “clearly on track.” His next report (my guess: right around September 1) will undoubtedly declare the efforts complete.

Serry’s report is designed to assist the social promotion of the Palestinians in September, through a resolution by a body that lacks the authority to confer statehood on anyone, much less anyone as patently unprepared as the Palestinians. The Palestinians have yet to complete Phase I of the “Performance-Based Roadmap,” which required that they put an end to all incitement, dismantle all terrorist groups and their infrastructure, and produce a constitution. Eight years later, the incitement continues, the premier terrorist group was voted into office in Gaza, and the constitution is unfinished.

Not to put too fine a point on it: if you can’t finish drafting your constitution; if your “president” is in the seventh year of his four-year term; if you have no functioning legislature and cannot hold parliamentary elections; if half your putative state is occupied by terrorists; if your education system is a cesspool of anti-Semitism; if you insist upon dedicating public squares to those who massacred civilians; if your ruling party is corroded by corruption; if you have no free press or independent judiciary; if you cannot implement anything in negotiations that you refuse to conduct in any event; and if you haven’t finished Phase I of the Roadmap . . . well, you might not be ready for a state.

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The Travesty of “International Humanitarian Law”

Evelyn Gordon
Contentions/Commentary
23 December 10

Just about everything that’s wrong with the current conception of “international humanitarian law” was encapsulated in a UN official’s response to the recent escalation between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

Surprisingly, it started off well. The agency’s special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, Robert Serry, condemned the rocket attacks from Gaza, saying they were “in clear violation of international humanitarian law and endanger civilians.” Then, noting Israel’s retaliatory air strikes, he even declared that Israel had “a right to self-defense.”

Had the sentence ended there, it would have been fine. But it didn’t. Israel, said Serry, has “a right to self-defense consistent with international humanitarian law” [emphasis added] — which requires it to “exercise maximum restraint and take every precaution to ensure Israeli forces do not endanger civilians in Gaza.”

And that’s where the whole concept breaks down. Because what happens when “maximum restraint” and taking “every precaution” fail to stop the rocket fire? After all, we already know they will: Israel tried precisely this kind of pinpoint strike — in which pilots are strictly forbidden to fire if there’s any chance of hitting civilians — for three years after leaving Gaza in 2005, but it had no effect whatsoever on the daily rocket fire.

(Read full "The Travesty of “International Humanitarian Law”)

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Dual Debacles in the Middle East?

Jennifer Rubin
Contentions/Commentary
26 October '10

In case you thought the Middle East couldn’t become more contentious and unstable than it already is, there is this report:

The United Nations backs Palestinian efforts to be ready for statehood by August and believes they will achieve that goal, the organization’s Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Robert H. Serry said Monday.

“All international players are now in agreement that the Palestinians are ready for statehood at any point in the near future. We are in the homestretch of your agenda to reach that point by August next year, and you have our full support,” said Serry.

He added, “Palestinian statehood is not only a right, and in everyone’s interest: it is also doable.”

As I noted before, the legality of such a maneuver by the General Assembly is somewhat in doubt, but the impact on Israel and its foes would be serious. An Israel hand explains that the Palestinians may seek to be recognized “without a mention of exact borders in the resolution,” or they might opt for a straightforward anti-settlement resolution. The Israel guru notes, “So far, the Palestinians are keeping all their options open, using a variety of spokesmen who are not really authoritative.”

(Read full post)

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Is there a Plan B?

Fixation on two-state solution prevents discussion, critical thinking


Moshe Dann
Israel Opinion/Ynet
26 May '10

"No," says Robert Serry, UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, speaking recently at the Hebrew University's Truman Institute. "I don't know of any alternatives," he added. Nor does he seem interested in exploring other possibilities.

Myopic thinking is at the root of the problem. Without a "Plan B," critical thinking is frozen, locked into a disaster model, regardless of the consequences.

This is exactly what happened in planning the Oslo Accords. According to Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Intelligence and Atomic Energy Dan Meridor, when he asked one of the architects of the Oslo Accords why the issue of Palestinian refugees was not brought up in negotiations, he was told that this would have prevented an agreement; form was more important than substance.

The result was an implosion within the Palestinian Authority, a civil war between Fatah and Hamas, and an explosion of terrorism against Israel.

Unwillingness to think about "Plan B," lack of critical thinking, led to disasters following Israeli withdrawals from the Gaza Strip and south Lebanon.

Without thinking strategically, Israeli politicians and the international community tried to fix tactical breakdowns, pouring vast sums into PA coffers and hoping that reason would prevail. Instead, it encouraged irresponsibility and dependency.

Serry's role is not as innovator, but as program facilitator – even as success remains distant. He likes to point to PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad as a leader whose projects, like building new towns and infrastructure, offer hope. But Fayyad does not possess political power, organizational backing, or popularity.

(Read full article)

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Sorry, Serry, I Can't Tolerate UN Hypocrisy

Yisrael Medad
My Right Word
23 February '10

The Dutch term for hypocrisy seems to be either huichelachtigheid, schijnheiligheid or plain hypocrisie. I just want to make sure Mr. Serry gets my point.

Robert Serry is the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process. I heard him almost a year ago. He has has expressed concern over Israel's inclusion of Hebron's Cave of the Patriarchs and Bethlehem's Rachel’s Tomb in the National Heritage Plan. He claims as a result of this announcement that there are

"heightened tensions."

The official source is here for this:

"These sites are in occupied Palestinian territory and are of historical and religious significance not only to Judaism but also to Islam, and to Christianity as well. I urge Israel not to take any steps on the ground which undermine trust or could prejudice negotiations, the resumption of which should be the highest shared priority of all who seek peace."

(Read full post)
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