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maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 30 JULY 2014 News 4 JURGEN BALZAN THE controversial decision to back Israel's bid for a seat on the UN Se- curity Council in 2018 was taken by the PN administration, just a month before last year's election. Former foreign minister Francis Zammit Dimech confirmed the revelation made by his successor, George Vella on Saviour Balzan's Reporter programme on TVM on Monday, explaining on the tel- ephone that he had communicated the agreement through a note ver- bale – an official letter confirming an agreement – in February 2013. In telephone comments to Malta- Today, Zammit Dimech however ar- gued that the agreement is not bind- ing, adding "the current government has every right to change the agree- ment according to the present cir- cumstances." He argued that in 2013, circum- stances in the Middle East were completely different and insisted that he couldn't "predict" the cur- rent situation, in which over 1,200 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli armed forces since an attack was launched on Gaza three weeks ago. Zammit Dimech also noted that during his short tenure as foreign affairs minister at the end of the previous legislature, he was one of the first EU ministers to recognise Palestine's non-Member Observer State status at the United Nations. However, in 2013 Gaza had been under a blockade for five years and was still undergoing reconstruction following the 2008 Gaza war when around 1,400 Palestinians, mostly civilians, were killed in a 22-day war. The strip of land the size of Malta is home to 1.8 million Palestinians, and has been under a sea, land and air blockade for six years, with the United Nations under secretary gen- eral for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator de- scribing it as "an open-air prison." In his appearance on Reporter, Vella said "On 6 February, 2013, then foreign affairs minister Fran- cis Zammit Dimech signed a note verbale binding Malta to support Is- rael's bid to win a seat on the United Nations Security Council." The minister added that the com- munication clearly stated that Malta and Israel had reached a reciprocal agreement, on the eve of the March election, binding the new Labour government with an arrangement over a UN election set to be held in four years' time. Asked why Malta chose to reach such an agreement with Israel at such an early stage, Zammit Dimech explained that "countries lobby with each other over various postings on international organisations". Pressed to explain why Malta had decided to enter such an agreement when Israel would be facing compe- tition from Germany and Belgium to win one of the two available UN seats for the European region, Zam- mit Dimech said he could not re- member the minute details of the agreement or whether the deal was brokered by Malta's EU ambassador, Richard Cachia Caruana or other persons. He added that he could not re- member whether he participated in direct negotiations or whether any- one else led the dealings. While saying that the "homework" was done by his predecessor, Tonio Borg, Zammit Dimech said "I would need to have the note verbale at hand to reply to such questions." Backing Israel would be problem- atic not only because two other Eu- ropean countries are also contesting for the 2018 Security Council seat, but given Israel's continued defi- ance of UN resolutions over its il- legal occupation of Palestinian land, support for Israel would also not go down well in the Arab world. Since 1972 the US has used its veto power at the UN Security Council 39 times to protect Israel from cen- sure and despite strong condemna- tions from across the world, Israel to this day persists with its illegal oc- cupation and apartheid policies. If Malta does support Israel's bid in 2018 in return for Israel's support for Malta's bid in 2022, this could have severe consequences on Malta's relationship with Arab countries, especially countries in North Africa and the Gulf which have longstand- ing excellent relations with Malta. This concern was confirmed by Vella, who explained that following the revelation of Malta's support for Israel by MaltaToday, several Arab countries approached him person- ally to express their anger at Malta's decision. During Monday's programme, Vel- la was adamant that as things stand, he would not back Israel's bid. "In light of the atrocities occurring in Gaza, Israel should not be sup- ported. I will not support Israel's bid to join the UN Security Council, but this government is constrained by the PN's previous note verbale," the foreign affairs minister said. Following Labour's election last year, Prime Minister Joseph Mus- cat visited Israel on a trip which had originally been planned two years before by the previous administra- tion, and called off because of the unrest in Libya in 2011. During his visit, Muscat signed a number of agreements with the Is- raeli government, covering energy, health, research and tourism. With four years to go for the UN election, annulling the agreement reached by the PN government would impinge on the wide-ranging agreements sealed by Muscat's administration. Decision to back Israel's UN bid taken by PN administration Former foreign affairs minister Francis Zammit Dimech had sealed agreement to back Israel's bid for a UN seat, due in 2018, however he does not remember who led negotiations Francis Zammit Dimech Foreign affairs minister George Vella revealed that the agreement to back Israel's bid for UN seat was reached by PN government

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