UN Mideast Envoy, Alvaro de Soto, Resigns Saying UN is Submissive to Israel 

Former UN Mideast envoy quits, says UN is submissive to Israel

Wednesday June 13, 2007 10:49 by Dina Yasmeen - IMEMC Editorial Group

Alvaro de Soto, the Peruvian born diplomat, quit his post as Mid East envoy to the UN last month in protest. He said that UN policy had failed in the region because the organization cowers to Israeli and US demands.

Up until this resignation, De Soto had worked for the UN in various countries for 25 years.

He outlined his discontent in a 53 page leaked document addressed to top UN officials. In the document, he condemns the economic boycott imposed on Palestine as well as diplomatic restrictions barring him from talking to Syria or Hamas.

De Soto is quoted as saying that, "Even-handedness has been pummeled into submission in an unprecedented way since the beginning of 2007."

He also reveals his disgust towards both the Hamas charter, which calls for the destruction of he Israeli state, and Israeli policies in the region, which he says have been ironically designed with the goal of bringing about more (resistance) from Palestinians. De Soto explains, "I don't honestly think the UN does Israel any favors at all by not speaking frankly to it about its failings regarding the peace process."

De Soto has been replaced by Michael Williams, a diplomat of British origin.

Former UN Middle East envoy says UN is subservient to Israel and US 

Date: 13 / 06 / 2007 Time: 12:09

Bethlehem - Ma'an - 

The former UN Middle East envoy, Álvaro de Soto, quit his job in Jerusalem last month alleging that UN policy in the region had failed because it had been "pummeled into submission" to U.S. and Israeli interests, according to a newly leaked document, seen by Reuters.

Reuters news agency revealed on 13 June that, in a confidential end of mission report, de Soto poured scorn on the Quartet negotiating group of the United States, Russia, European Union and United Nations, and suggested that the UN should pull out.

According to Reuters, his "scathing 53-page farewell" from May 5 demonstrated his clear frustration. In particular, he criticized the restrictions he said were placed on him by UN headquarters against talking to the Hamas-led Palestinian government and to Syria, Reuters reports.

De Soto, who was UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process 2005-07, condemned the economic sanctions imposed by Israel, the United States and the EU on Hamas after it won the Palestinian legislative elections in 2006. According to the Reuters report, he said that the Quartet's "effective endorsement" of these sanctions had had "devastating consequences" for the Palestinians.

"The steps taken by the international community with the presumed purpose of bringing about a Palestinian entity that will live in peace with its neighbor Israel have had precisely the opposite effect," he wrote.

"Even-handedness has been pummeled into submission in an unprecedented way."

De Soto accused Israeli of following policies that seem to be "perversely designed to encourage the continued action by Palestinian militants," Reuters reports. The goal of parallel Israeli and Palestinian states could be slipping away, he warned.

De Soto also sharply criticized what he called "the tendency that exists among U.S. policy-makers ... to cower before any hint of Israeli displeasure and to pander shamelessly before Israeli-linked audiences."

As for the United Nations itself, he criticized that "a premium is put on good relations with the U.S. and improving the UN's relationship with Israel."

"I don't honestly think the UN does Israel any favors at all by not speaking frankly to it about its failings regarding the peace process," de Soto said.

The Peruvian diplomat also urged UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to "seriously reconsider" continued membership in the Quartet, which he said had become a "side-show" and "pretty much a group of friends of the U.S."

Finally, "I concluded that my uphill effort was not going to succeed," he said.

De Soto, a Peruvian diplomat who formerly worked in El Salvador, Cyprus and the Western Sahara, spent two years on the Middle East before resigning in May, ending a 25-year UN career.

He was replaced by Briton Michael Williams, a former BBC correspondent who also previously served as adviser to former British Foreign Secretaries Robin Cook and Jack Straw. Media reports have suggested that his appointment might signal a more pro-Israeli shift within UN policy.

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