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Israel and Palestine at the United Nations Stakeout [pictures and video]

By Dan Patterson on February 26, 2008

Today at the United Nations, UN Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes, and UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Robert Serry spoke to the press on the Israeli / Palestinian conflict. Holmes and Serry briefed the Security Council about the on-going peace negotiations, as well as the recent violence between Palestine and Israel. In his report, Mr. Serry stated that Israeli Foreign Minister Livni and Palestinian Lead egotiator Ahmad Querei are meeting on a “continual basis.”

Serry offered the Quartet – the United Nations, the European Union, the Russian Federation, and the United States – full support of the United Nations.

Mr. Holmes, in a statement to the Security Council, was not optimistic about Palestine. He stated that the conditions on the ground were “miserable.” Restrictions on movement of goods and people placed on the Palestinian people after the 2007 Hamas take-over have caused serious economic hardship. Coupled with the recent shut-down of the Palestinian border by Israel has exasperated the situation.

After the briefing by Mr. Holmes and Mr. Serry, the Israeli ambassador to the UN, Dan Gillerman explained Israel’s position on the recent border crossings. Gillerman justified the border closings by emphasizing the destruction caused by Palestinian rockets fired into Israel. The Ambassador dismissed questions as to the nature of the missile attacks as state sponsored or the actions individuals. Gillerman characterized the attacks as having no difference.

After Mr. Gillerman spoke, the Palestinian Ambassador Mansour briefly gave a few statements. He condemned Israel for “collective punishment” of the Palestinian people, and added that no significant progress in the peace process has been made since the Annapolis conference two months ago.

Serry at the Security Council stakeout:

Holmes at Security Council stakeout:

Click To Play

- Dan Patterson

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TRNS video on Blip.tv

General James Cartwright, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, briefed the press about a mission to shoot down a defunct satellite with a tactical missile

By user on February 21, 2008

Gen. Cartwright repeated the Defense Department’s previous statement that the shot from the USS Lake Erie was a direct hit, though he said there is no “smoking gun” as to whether the fuel tank had been hit. The video of the impact showed some indications, he said, that the tank was breached such as a fireball and a vapor cloud. But Cartwright said that they are still compiling all the radar evidence and at at this time the military is about 90 percent sure that the tank was breached.

Cartwright said that no debris any larger than the size of a football has been identified thus far, though the military will be tracking the debris for its next three rotations of the earth. Most of this debris is expected to burn up upon its reentry into the atmosphere. Overall, he said that the various commands working on the project were pleased. He said that this operation didn’t give any new insight into the realm of missile defense since the missiles used had been modified away from their original purpose of defensive missile interception to perform this shot. The main difference Cartwright expressed, is that the satellite target is not like the missiles originally intended target–an intercontinental ballistic missile, in that the satellite does not follow a ballistic trajectory, it was traveling faster and it is not aerodynamic.
The two prepared, but unused back-up missiles will be reverted to their original purpose of missile defense over the course of the next few weeks. Cartwright said that all the debris which does not burn up in the next 48 hours should de-orbit over the next month.