UNITED NATIONS -- U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's decision not to
meet leaders of Hamas during his current three-day tour of the region
comes as no surprise.
Several factors have come into play for Ban.
First, Hamas has supported its "brothers" in Hezbollah who have
continued to flout its commitment to the U.N. Security Council to
release Israeli soldiers Ehud Goldwaser and Eldad Regev. The two men have been held by the Lebanese terrorist group since last July.
Secondly, Hamas directly has held another Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit,
despite pledges that he, too, would be released.
Third, Hamas has refused to publicly disavow the use of force in its
relations with Israel.
Fourth, and perhaps most importantly, Hamas, unlike its rival Fatah,
has also publicly refused to acknowledge the right of Israel to exist.
With these factors in play, in concert with a growing U.S. attempt to
"influence" the policies of the new secretary-general, Ban's decision
to exclude a Hamas meeting during his current Mideast tour was to be
expected.
Israel had grown increasingly frustrated with former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's vain attempts to "free" the three Israeli soldiers, but has been carefully silent on the impasse since Ban took office Jan. 1.
Israel's U.N. ambassador, Dan Gillerman, had previously told NewsMax that
Jerusalem hoped the new U.N. chief would make the release of its soldiers
"a top priority."
Ban's snub of Hamas is a signal that he, unlike Annan, will not accept
a stalemate on the plight of the Israeli soldiers.
The situation in Israel and Lebanon has become a political "football"
within the corridors of the United Nations, with several Arab
delegations trying to tie the fate of Israel's nuclear program to that
of Iran.
On Saturday, the Security Council imposed new sanctions on the Islamic
republic for refusal to suspend its enrichment of uranium fuel.
Tehran insists its activities are for peaceful uses related to its
nuclear power program.
Washington insists that the enrichment is really intended to "fuel" a
secret nuclear bomb program.
Last-minute attempts by Arab delegations to include a "criticism" of
Israel in Saturday's action against Iran was defeated by the
resolution's sponsors (Germany, Britain and France) as well as the United Nations.
That brought a cry of foul from Iran's visiting foreign minister,
Manouchehr Mottaki, who blasted the council for a "double standard" and
then avoided reporters as he dashed from the U.N. compound.
Reacting to Mottaki's remarks, acting U.S. ambassador to the U.N. invited the
Iranian delegation to visit the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C.,
during its brief visit to the U.S.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had publicly stated that the Holocaust "never took place." The fiery leader also added that Israel
deserves to "be wiped off the Earth."
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