OTP Weekly Briefing 5-13 September
Crisis Looms on Horizon for United Nations; Palestine to Apply for Statehood Friday
By Zach Waksman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East
UNITED NATIONS – Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas created the potential for chaos within the United Nations Monday, announcing that he would submit a membership application to the Security Council after addressing the General Assembly on Friday. The move comes as what Abbas considers a last-ditch effort to achieve recognition as a separate state. Negotiations with Israel have ground to a halt, and efforts to restart them have failed.
Since 2002, a group of diplomats from the United States, Russia, the UN, and the European Union, known as the Quartet, have been attempting to guide negotiations between Israel and the representatives of the Palestinian people. The last attempts at negotiation broke down a year ago when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused to extend a partial freeze on illegal settlement building on occupied Palestinian land. Israel insists that before negotiations can resume, any new resolutions would have to include a requirement that it be recognized as a “Jewish state.”
Netanyahu, who plans to address the General Assembly prior to the application’s submission, considered Abbas’s decision unilateral in nature. He still appeared willing to resume negotiations.
“When the Palestinian Authority abandons these futile and unilateral measures at the U.N., it will find Israel to be a genuine partner for direct peace negotiations,” he said. “I call on the PA chair to open direct negotiations in New York, that will continue in Jerusalem and Ramallah.”
Abbas was also agreeable to meeting in New York, but not to resume negotiations. “I am ready to meet any Israeli official at any time he wants, but to meet only for meeting, I think it’s useless,” he told Fox News.
Both the United States and Israel oppose granting Palestine full membership in the United Nations because they believe only negotiation could reach a true solution. The Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz reported that Palestine has secured six or seven affirmative votes from the Security Council. For the membership vote to succeed, Palestine needs an affirmative vote from nine out of the 15 members of the Security Council, and no veto from a permanent member. The United States, a permanent member, has vowed to use its veto power should the need arise, but doing so would paint the U.S. as the country that single-handedly ended Palestine’s efforts.
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, an envoy of the Quartet, attempted to frame the issue while speaking with reporters on Sunday.
“The Palestinians are here at the UN now, so the question is … can people find a way that enables the Palestinians to take a significant step forward to statehood at the same time as not ending up in a situation where the UN replaces negotiations?”
The answer seems murky. Blair told ABC that the Quartet was trying to put together a document to serve as framework for future negotiations and persuade Abbas not to make his application. To Palestinian official Nabil Shaath, the document had minimal value. He told journalists that when he saw the proposal, “I gulped. This was the statement that was supposed to persuade President Abbas not to go? Mr. Blair doesn’t sound like a neutral interlocutor. He sounds like an Israeli diplomat sometimes.”
Any further negotiation seems unlikely at this point, but a successful Security Council vote, even with a U.S. veto, will have symbolic value to the Palestinian cause by giving legitimacy to the organization’s leadership. Abbas seemed optimistic and referred to a speech made by U.S. President Barack Obama last year in which Obama said he hoped for Palestine to become a member of the U.N. in 2011.
During his interview, he spoke directly to the U.S. President. “You promised me a state by September 2011,” Abbas said. “I hope you will deliver.”
For more information, please see:
Ha’artetz — ‘Palestinians need just two more Security Council votes in bid for statehood’ — 20 September 2011
Jerusalem Post — No compromise on ‘Jewish’ state, say Israeli officials — 20 September 2011
Ma’an News Agency — Abbas ‘willing to meet Netanyahu’ — 20 September 2011
BBC — Israel offers talks with Palestine over UN bid — 19 September 2011
Jerusalem Post — Quartet meets in New York to avert Palestinian UN crisis — 19 September 2011
New York Times — Diplomats Scramble as Palestinians Plan to Apply for U.N. Membership on Friday — 19 September 2011
New York Times — Palestinians See U.N. Bid as Their Most Viable Option — 17 September 2011
“Chinese Idol” Suspended from Airing
By Greg Donaldson
Impunity Watch, Asia
BEIJING, China – It has been confirmed that Chinese government officials have placed a one year suspension on the popular TV talent show “Super Girl.” “Super Girl”, which is modeled after “American Idol,” has drawn nearly 400 million viewers in the past.
When questioned about the ban placed on Super Girl, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) explained that the show exceeded the ninety minute time limit for talent competitions. SARFT claims that episodes of “Super Girl” can last more than three hours.
When speaking of “Super Girl,” government officials have described the program as “vulgar,” “manipulative,” and “poison for our youth.”
Li Hao, spokesperson for Hunan Satellite Television which aired “Super Girl”, said next year the station will air programs at night that encourage healthy morals, public safety, and give practical information about housework.
The ban has evoked much criticism of the Chinese government and organizations that regulate such as SARFT.
A senior employee at Hunan Satellite Television told BBC that SARFT was bitter over the popularity and financial success of “Super Girl.” “It is widely believed that the real reason for the ban is that Hunan TV’s talent programs have been extremely popular,” she said.
Others suggest the ability of viewers to vote for their favorite contestants was “dangerously democratic.” This theory has credibility as the government banned text-messaging voting in 2007.
Zhan Jiang, a journalism professor at Beijing Foreign Studies University said the ban is a reflection of the rift between the younger generation and the conservative bureaucrats who have kept a close watch on what kind of programs appear on media channels throughout the country.
“Super Girl” was previously banned in 2006 for three years, following a campaign by a cultural minister opposing the show. The minister, Liu Zhongde, said “Super Girl is certainly the choice of the market, but we can’t have working people reveling all day in low culture.”
Interestingly, an article was published in the China Daily eleven days ago about “Super Girl’s” dying popularity and appeal. The article explained that contestants and judges left much to be desired. The article quoted Li Hao as saying “Let’s face it. The heyday of reality singing shows is over.”
In addition to the ban placed on “Super Girl,” media regulators also imposed a one month suspension on a television station in the province of Hebei which displayed a son criticizing his father.
For more information, please see:
BBC- China takes popular TV talent show Super Girl off air – 19 September 2011
New York Times – Popularity May Have Doomed Chinese TV Talent Show – 19 September 2011
People’s Daily Online – Super girl taken off air – 19 September 2011
China Daily – Reality kicks in – 8 September 2011
Yemeni Security Forces Open Fire on Protesters
By Tyler Yates
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East
SANA’A, Yemen — Security forces under the control of Ali Abdullah Saleh, the Yemeni president, have opened fire on protesters in Sana’a. Estimates put the devastation at 26 dead and hundreds injured.
Protesters, numbering in the tens of thousands, had taken to the streets of the capital to call for an end to Saleh’s 33-year rule. Government snipers fired upon protesters from the rooftops, and security force officers and armed civilians shot protesters with anti-aircraft guns and automatic weapons as they left Change Square, the place many protesters have camped since they begin protesting for a regime change in February. Witnesses also reported the usage of water cannons and tear gas.
Earlier in the day, government troops opened fire into the Al-Hasaba district of Sana’a, home to important opposition leadership. The opposition did not return fire, noting that they did not want to give Saleh any excuse to not sign a deal to transfer power.
Sunday’s violent hostilities come as Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi, Yemen’s vice president, will, within a week, sign a Gulf Arab initiative to arrange for a transfer of power. A high-level Saudi official, who wished to remain anonymous, confirmed this to reporters saying “the vice president will sign the Gulf Initiative in the name of the president.”
Last week news broke that Saleh had authorized Hadi to negotiate a power transfer with the opposition. Saleh left Yemen three months ago for Saudi Arabia to recover from a June 3 attack against his compound.
Some members of the opposition believe that Saleh’s authorization of the power transfer negotiations to Hadi is just the latest in a series of delays to prevent any real change. The uneasiness has resulted in a new swell of protests in recent days. These larger protests have been met with greater numbers of security forces and armed regime members.
Saleh has been facing protests over charges of nepotism and corruption since January. The rejuvenated protests are merely a continuation.
On Saturday, thousands of protesters stormed the main university in Sana’a, preventing the first day of school. At least six students were injured in the storming of the university.
Many Yemeni schools have served as focal points for the opposition. At least 20 schools were kept closed on Saturday because many of them had served as outposts by government defectors.
“Schools are for learning, not to serve as barracks,” said Fatma Mutahar, principal of Ayesha school and an official with the Education Ministry. Mutahar has attempted to negotiate with the defectors to leave her school, but so far those negotiations have failed.
More than 60 schools in the southern city of Aden are serving as shelters for displaced peoples left homeless as a result of fighting between the opposition and government troops.
Despite government pressures the opposition plans to continue. It has more protests planned for the following days and weeks.
Demonstrations on Sunday also took place in many other Yemeni cities including Taiz, Saada, and Damar.
For more information, please see:
Al Jazeera — Many protesters shot dead in Yemen — 18 Sept. 2011
The Guardian — Yemeni protesters ‘fired on by troops’ — 18 Sept. 2011
NPR — Yemeni Forces Open Fire on Protesters — 18 Sept. 2011
USA Today — Yemeni forces open fire on protesters, 12 killed — 18 Sept. 2011