UN continues involvement in terrorist activity in the Palestinian territories

[Buck Birdseed]

It's a relief and works agency! What does it matter if one of its, I dunno, shelf stackers, are members of a political party? This is not the political part of the UN, for ****'s sake.

[Buck Birdseed]

In fact, I'd go futher and say that it's part of basic workers' rights not to be fired from your job based on your political beliefs or affiliations, unless your job is of a political or sensitive nature.

[Zulu Elephant]

Originally posted by Buck Birdseed
In fact, I'd go futher and say that it's part of basic workers' rights not to be fired from your job based on your political beliefs or affiliations, unless your job is of a political or sensitive nature.

Unless someone's political views are very likely to effect the way they carry out their job.

[Guardian]

Originally posted by Buck Birdseed
In fact, I'd go futher and say that it's part of basic workers' rights not to be fired from your job based on your political beliefs or affiliations, unless your job is of a political or sensitive nature.

...and working for the UN in a conflict area is not political or sensitive in nature?

Originally posted by Zulu Elephant


Unless someone's political views are very likely to effect the way they carry out their job.

Exactly!

[Buck Birdseed]

Originally posted by Guardian
...and working for the UN in a conflict area is not political or sensitive in nature?

It's not the UN, people in sky-blue berets UN. It's a structural UN agency.

I would be bothered (beyond the personal level) if a Swedish army officer or someone working as an aide in the prime minister's office had Nazi beliefs, but not if the tea-lady at the tax office or the man laying down a new highway did.

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by Zulu Elephant
It shocks me that people on this thread hate the UN so much that they'll jump on a an unproven factoid...

Especially when they have this proven factoid: http://www.mia.org.il/archive/010706ha_eng.html

[Guardian]

Originally posted by Buck Birdseed

It's not the UN, people in sky-blue berets UN. It's a structural UN agency.

I would be bothered (beyond the personal level) if a Swedish army officer or someone working as an aide in the prime minister's office had Nazi beliefs, but not if the tea-lady at the tax office or the man laying down a new highway did.

Well, if they can drive around in white vans with UN markings, it's as good as wearing the blue beret. The point here is that the UN has to be neutral. Lives depend on it! Political freedom is nice, but an organization like the UN has to look after its own integrity and reputation first. Hence, you can't be working for the UN in a conflict area if you're openly supporting one side in the conflict! Perhaps you can still work for the UN somewhere, but it would have to be somewhere else, not in the conflict where you've openly taken sides.

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by Buck Birdseed
In fact, I'd go futher and say that it's part of basic workers' rights not to be fired from your job based on your political beliefs or affiliations, unless your job is of a political or sensitive nature.

In fact, I'd go further to say that your "right" to work exists only inasmuch as there are people who want to hire you.

[DrGerry]

The fact is simple: if the I can use the UN it's good; if not, the UN sucks....

I think the UN is not good enought, specially for non powerfull countries (like mine), but the empires are worse (like Bush wants).

[Buck Birdseed]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker
In fact, I'd go further to say that your "right" to work exists only inasmuch as there are people who want to hire you.

In fact, I'd go futher and consider you a right-wing licker of corporations' boots. The struggle continues and you're certainly not going to be the one to stop it.

[Sirotnikov]

Israel Demands U.N. Probe Gaza Film Incident
Sun Oct 3, 2004 06:28 AM ET

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel demanded Sunday the United Nations investigate whether Palestinians filmed in the Gaza Strip were militants using a U.N. van to transport rockets for use against Israel.

Israel has killed at least 50 Palestinians in a Gaza offensive launched after a Palestinian rocket attack killed two toddlers in an Israeli border town.

U.N. officials who had seen the black-and-white footage, filmed by an Israeli military drone, said they did not believe the object seen being loaded into the back of a vehicle was a Qassam rocket -- but possibly a stretcher.

The pictures showed men running toward a vehicle with U.N. painted on the roof. One of them carried a long thin object which Israeli officials said was a Qassam rocket.

Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Gillerman, demanded that Secretary-General Kofi Annan order a full investigation.

"This is a totally unacceptable situation ... in which the U.N., which is supposed to keep the peace, is cynically used by murderers to transport Qassam rockets in U.N. vehicles," Gillerman told Israel Radio.

The commissioner-general of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which cares for Palestinian refugees, insisted the object was not a rocket.

"It would have taken more than a Goliath or a world heavyweight lifting champion to carry a Qassam rocket of some 30 to 50 kg (66 to 110 pounds) lightly in one arm," Peter Hansen, the commissioner-general, said.

He said he believed it was a portable lightweight stretcher.

Israeli military officials countered by saying the footage had been analyzed by aerial experts and they were certain it was a rocket. They added that some Qassam models weigh less than 12 kg (27 pounds).

Israel and UNRWA have long been at odds.

Israel has accused UNRWA of turning a blind eye to the use of its vehicles and facilities by militants waging a four-year-old uprising. UNRWA accuses Israel of wanton destruction of Palestinian homes.

In May, Israel said television footage that showed gunmen jumping into an UNRWA ambulance was proof the U.N. agency was aiding Palestinian militants. Hansen said the militants had threatened the ambulance driver.

[Sirotnikov]

UNRWA demands apology
Tovah Lazaroff, THE JERUSALEM POST

Rescue worker Wahel Ghabayen, 38, says he is the man seen running in an IDF video allegedly showing terrorists using a UN ambulance to transport a Kassam rocket.

Speaking to reporters at a UN press conference in Gaza City, Ghabayen said he had run with a stretcher, not a rocket, to a school in Jabalya on Friday after he heard that someone there may have been wounded. The wounded boy had already been moved by the time he arrived, he said.

"I came back to the car with the stretcher, and I folded it and threw it inside the car," he said. "If it was a missile, I would not throw it into the car but would put it in carefully." The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) is demanding that Israel apologize for making false accusations against it.

"We want an apology from the Israelis, because we didn't commit any wrongdoing," said Lionel Brisson, UNRWA director of operations.

UN workers do not carry weapons or armed militants in the agency's vehicles, he added.

Still Israel has been concerned for the last four years that terrorists take advantage of the UNRWA facilities and vehicles, knowing they are not likely to be subject to checks by security forces and are often permitted unrestricted movement.

A security official said there is no doubt that a Kassam rocket was placed in the vehicle. "If there are any doubts, they relate to the vehicle and whether it was indeed an authentic UN vehicle or whether the terrorists disguised a vehicle to evade being spotted by the army," he said.

Ambassador to the UN Dan Gillerman told The Jerusalem Post he plans to show the video to Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Monday morning.

"I will present him with a very stern letter in which we demand that the United Nations carry out a really thorough investigation into this very serious incident. We believe that it is in the interest of the UN, maybe more than anyone else to look into the matter and to see if these very serious allegations are true," he said.

"I am going to demand of the secretary-general that a committee of inquiry look at all aspects [of the incident], including the very unfortunate record of [UNRWA head] Peter Hansen. His pattern of activity is very worrisome not just for us but for the UN's integrity and reputation."

Hansen, in an interview with Channel 1, said he wasn't worried about Gillerman's meeting with Annan. "What I am worried about is that such serious allegations are made on such a flimsy basis," he said, adding that the charges amounted to incitement against UNRWA.

In a press release he added, "I am concerned that such false allegations can lead to increased aggressive behavior by Israelis towards the United Nations in general and UN humanitarian staff in particular, and therefore seriously increase the risks which UN personnel face in this zone.

"Given the gravity of the allegation, I immediately ordered my staff to obtain a copy of the footage in question and initiated an investigation into the alleged facts.

"I have now seen the footage in question. I can confirm it shows one of UNRWA's ambulances. It then shows three persons walking swiftly towards it. One of these persons is carrying in one hand a light, long, and thin object. The person then easily throws the object into the back of the ambulance.

"While the quality of the video clip is poor, its analysis shows beyond the shadow of a doubt that the object carried and thrown into the vehicle is not/cannot be a Kassam rocket: I have been told that a Kassam rocket weighs at least 32 kilograms and that its diameter is approximately 17 cm.," wrote Hansen. He added that the object in the video is much thinner and lighter.

"In my mind and in that of those whom I have consulted, it is clearly a folded stretcher, a logical and indispensable accessory in any ambulance," Hansen said.

"It is not the first time that the government of Israel has propagated falsehoods against UNRWA: A few months ago, two cabinet ministers declared in public that UNRWA ambulances were carrying body parts of fallen Israeli soldiers. In that case, too, a thorough investigation was carried out and led to the conclusion that there was not a shred of evidence to suggest that the claim had any basis in fact," Hansen said.

Gillerman said that it is Hansen who has a record of making false accusations against Israel. "Peter Hansen's record as far as accusations and denials is a poor one. I would expect someone in his position to to behave in a more responsible way. His reaction yesterday and today was pathetic.

"Military experts claim you can see very clearly that this is a rocket," Gillerman said.

According to the IDF Web site, a Kassam rocket can weigh as little as 5.5 kilograms or as much as 90.

Gillerman added that the incident is part of a pattern that concerns Israel in which UN vehicles have been used in the last few years for terrorist activity. A UN vehicle was involved in the abduction of three IDF soldiers from Lebanon in 2000, and "only four months ago we saw an UNRWA vehicle being used to drive terrorists," Gillerman said.

[axi]

I can't understand why Israeli propaganda is trying to ferment anti-UN sentiment among it's own citizens. Perhaps they have decided to force the expulsion of 3rd party monitors before the real atrocities begin in the Gaza strip.

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by Buck Birdseed
In fact, I'd go futher and consider you a right-wing licker of corporations' boots. The struggle continues and you're certainly not going to be the one to stop it.

Then explain why you should be able to FORCE someone to hire you.

[Guardian]

Actually, I'm beginning to understand the Israelis' frustration with Peter Hansen.

This is very serious business, and so yes, it should be taken seriously! At the very least, the UN should conduct a proper investigation before suggesting anything about the nature of these claims.

Basically, Hansen seems to be just waving the whole thing off saying, "Oh, the Israelis are probably just spouting unfounded allegations again."

In my opinion, that's not a responsible reaction, and so I'm inclined not to trust Peter Hansen from now on.

-And I'm not even Israeli!