UNITED NATIONS - High-level diplomacy usually occurs behind closed doors, but at the United Nations on Thursday, a smoke-filled basement cafe was where Arab ministers at one point haggled over the final text of a ceasefire resolution for Gaza.
Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa puffed on a chunky cigar in the modest Vienna Cafe, joined at the table by foreign ministers of Egypt, Libya, Saudi Arabia and a few other Arab countries trying to stop Israel’s incursion into Gaza.
At one point late in the afternoon, a British diplomat joined the ministers at the table, showing them proposed amendments to the resolution while the Arab diplomats chewed in public view on a late lunch of sandwiches and muffins and sipped espresso.
Mindful of journalists’ eavesdropping on their conversations, the ministers then moved back to their private conference room to talk further and await answers from the British, French and U.S. foreign ministers to changes to the text.
- Photo credit: Reuters/Mike Segar (Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa (L) greets U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at U.N. headquarters on Jan. 5)
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Someone needs take the high ground here. The united nations is the only body with the moral authority that will bring peace to this war and others in the future. The authorities should now call for unity among world leaders and to bring into law that all life is precious and that collateral damage should be illegal. Also the truth of negotiations held in dark rooms or behind closed doors should be made public for all to see and here. Only then can mankind continues to evolve to become human rather than always heading down a dark path to the destruction of himself and his fellow humans.
- Posted by mohanThe fools think they are going to stop years of hate with a treaty and photo op…LOL
- Posted by old ewok