UN Mission

President Carter Could Lead U.N. Investigation of Israel [Excerpts]

As Palestinian Arab rockets struck two Israeli towns [November 15, 2006], U.N. bodies prepared to launch no fewer than two overlapping "fact-finding" missions to second-guess Israel's anti-terrorist tactics. President Carter could head one of those missions.

The U.N. General Assembly is expected to convene a special emergency session [November 17, 2006] to deal with the November 8 Israel Defense Force artillery strike on the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun, which killed 19 civilians. A draft resolution for the assembly session calls on the U.N. secretary-general to establish a fact-finding mission into the event and requests that he report back to the assembly in a month.

And yesterday in Geneva, the U.N. Human Rights Council, which in its five months of existence has failed to pass one resolution on any country other than Israel, concluded its third emergency session on the Jewish state. In the session's resolution, the council called on its president, Ambassador Alfonso de Alba of Mexico, to establish a fact-finding mission to investigate the incident at Beit Hanoun.

A diplomat in Geneva who requested anonymity said the sponsors of the resolution are planning to ask Mr. Carter to head the investigation. Other candidates include the diplomats Martti Ahtisaari of Finland and Sadako Ogata of Japan.

The proposed resolution for tomorrow's General Assembly session draws most of its language from a Security Council resolution proposal that was vetoed on Friday. In addition to the fact-finding mission, the new proposal calls on "the international community, including the Quartet" -- America, the United Nations, the European Union, and Russia -- to establish "an international mechanism to protect civilians."

(Avni, New York Sun, 11/16/06)

[TBC: This article well illustrates the hypocrisy of the UN and former President Carter. Those who profess to defend civilians are not going to investigate the continual barrage of Arab missiles into Jewish population centers. Following Israel's incursion into Lebanon and the implementation of a truce in name only, other media report continued weapon smuggling and Arab boasts that they now have more missiles than before and will be using them.]