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American Blocking of Fayyad UN bid seen by many as unfounded and counterproductive

[additional-authors]
February 14, 2017
Photo by Michael Friedson/The Media Line

Growing consensus sees move against Fayyad as wrong move and misread

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres vowed to continue to recruit qualified candidates for the United Nations’ executive and managerial ranks regardless of their nationality after the Trump administration’s surprise move to block the nomination of former Palestinian prime minister, Salam Fayyad, as the next UN mediator for Libya.

“The proposal for Salam Fayyad to serve as the Secretary-General’s Special Representative in Libya was solely based on Mr. Fayyad’s recognized personal qualities and his competence for that position,” said Guterres in a statement released to The Media Line on Saturday from Istanbul at the start of his five nation Middle East tour that will also take him to the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar and Egypt.

Guterres defended his choice for a successor to German diplomat Martin Kobler in the Libya mediator role citing Fayyad’s extensive knowledge and decades of experience with challenging political, security and development issues.

“United Nations staff serve strictly in their personal capacity, “said Guterres. “They do not represent any government or country.”

UN officials say they were caught off guard by Friday’s statement by the US ambassador, Nikki R. Haley, expressing disappointment that the new United Nations secretary general, Guterres, planned on appointing Mr. Fayyad to the Libya post.

Fayyad, 64, is viewed in diplomatic circles as technocrat.

“He worked in Washington at the International Monetary Fund from 1987 to 1995 and he served as the IMF representative to the Palestinian Authority,” said Guterres’ spokesman, Stephane Dujarric. “Based on the information available to him at the time, the Secretary-General had the perception, now proven wrong, that the proposal would be acceptable to Security Council members,” Dujarric told The Media Line. But Haley’s announcement Friday made it clear that the US would block Fayyad’s appointment based on his nationality as a Palestinian.

“For too long the U.N. has been unfairly biased in favor of the Palestinian Authority to the detriment of our allies in Israel,” said Haley. “The United States does not currently recognize a Palestinian state or support the signal this appointment would send within the United Nations.”

Haley’s announcement prompted denunciations from former US ambassadors to Israel who are familiar with Fayyad and his politics.

“Fayyad was the best Palestinian partner for Israel and [the Libya] job has nothing to do with Israel,” tweeted Martin Indyk, Executive Vice President at the Brookings Institute and a former U.S. Special Envoy for Israeli-Palestinian Negotiations.

Daniel Shapiro, who left the US Ambassador’s post in Tel Aviv on January 20th, concurred.

“If you know Fayyad — decent, smart, honest, ethical, hardworking — it’s much more outrageous.” said Shapiro.

“My guess is [Israel’s UN Ambassador] Danny Danon went directly to Haley to get her to kill the appointment,” said another former American diplomat on background to The Media Line. “The sad thing is Fayyad probably needs a job since the PA has made it impossible for him to engage in Palestine.”

While there has been no official reaction to the American move to block Fayyad’s appointment, Arab intellectuals and pundits voiced their outrage.

“Of all the reasons that might be put across to object to Salam Fayyad as the UN’s envoy to Libya, the fact he is Palestinian is probably the worst,” said Dr. H.A. Hellyer, a senior non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council and the Royal United Services Institute in London.

“This is blatantly anti-Palestinian bigotry – and is meant to send a signal to the international community that a Trump administration will minimize and block the participation of Palestinians in international institutions wherever possible,” Hellyer told The Media Line.

In Amman, veteran Palestinian analyst Daoud Kuttab said Halley’s move inadvertently boosted Fayyad’s popularity among Palestinians who never really warmed to the technocrat as nationalist leader.

“Palestinians are saying that the US opposition to Fayyad proves that he was never America’s man in Palestine,” said Kuttab who also noted the irony embedded in Ambassador Halley’s thwarting a Ramallah official widely despised by the Hamas leadership in Gaza.

“Americans [are] blocking someone Hamas hates. Are the White House and Hamas on the same side here?”

While Kuttab lauded Secretary-General Guterres for standing up to the Trump administration, diplomats say Fayyad’s nomination is dead in the water largely because the Arab states want to keep the White House on-side in their campaign against the Iranians.

“The Gulf States like Trump because he is escalating against Iran,” said Mohammed Soliman, an Egyptian political analyst. “They won’t push for any sort of support for Fayyad.”

With President Al-Sissi squarely focused on seeking President Trump’s selection of Egypt as America’s foremost Arab partner, it is also unlikely that Cairo will make much noise over the unravelling of Fayyad’s candidacy.

As of Sunday morning only the French and Swedish ambassadors to the United Nations had issued statements in support of the Guterres decision to appoint Fayyad.

“The position needs [Security Council] approval,” said a European diplomat in Cairo familiar with both Fayyad and UN institutions. “I don’t think the US will back down. It would be nice, but very surprising.”

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