August 15, 2011 — SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — Bosnia's foreign minister told Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday that his country has not decided yet whether to support a Palestinian push for statehood expected at the U.N. in September.
Abbas began a three-day visit in Bosnia on Sunday and is meeting the nation's three-member presidency as well as Foreign Minister Sven Alkalaj. Bosnia-Herzegovina is a non-permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, which would consider such a Palestinian resolution.
The Palestinians first hope to win two-thirds support in the 192-member U.N. General Assembly at the United Nations, but its decisions aren't legally binding. That would require approval by the powerful Security Council, where the United States has indicated it would veto any Palestinian move in the absence of a negotiated peace deal with Israel.
Asked to predict how Bosnians would vote, Abbas said he "expects all support from them as they told us and as we believe them." But Alkalaj said it was up to the Bosnia's presidency and so far it hasn't decided.
"I hope — and this is one of the most important questions in the world — that all of us in Bosnia-Herzegovina want to see peace in this part of the world, and that all people who live there continue with their lives in peace," Alkalaj said.
He said Bosnia will decide after discussing the issue with allies such as the EU and the U.S. "I think Bosnia-Herzegovina will know how to find a just solution," said Alkalaj. In Bosnia, deep divisions remain among Muslim Bosnians, Croats and Serbs who fought each other at various points of the 1992-95 Bosnian war that cost 100,000 lives. Those divisions often prevent its three-member presidency from reaching agreement on domestic and global issues, forcing it to remain neutral instead.
In this case, Bosnia's Muslims and Catholic Croats may side with the Palestinians for the sake of good relations with the Islamic world, while the Serbs are likely to support Israel. Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik promised during his visit to Israel last year that the Bosnian Serbs will oppose (HE SAID HE WILL SUPPORT, NOT OPPOSE) Israeli interests at the U.N.
Now after the meeting Abbas told media how all 3 representatives told him that Bosnia will support "Palestinians". Serb member told him openly that Serbs will never support independent pal. state.
BOSNIAN-SERB PM MILORAD DODIK SENDS LETTER OF SUPPORT TO ISRAEL
Serb Republic Prime Minister Milorad Dodik Sends Letter of Support to Israel
Prime Minister of Serb Republic, Milorad Dodik yesterday sent a letter of support to Israeli President Shimon Peres. Prime Minister Dodik in his letter conveys his understanding of the precarious position of Israel and its citizens, at the same time giving full support to the Israeli effort to ensure security and peace to the Israeli people.
Dodik states in his letter that the Serb Republic (Republika Srpska) does not support anti- Israel demonstrations and gatherings that have been organized in the other part of Bosnia (the Muslim-Croat Federation).
Prime Minister Dodik at the same time expresses his belief that soon a long-term peaceful solution will be found for the conflict in which Israel finds itself.
For speaking in support of Israel, Dodik was reproached by Bosnia’s Muslim-dominated state-run television, as Andy Wilcoxson informs:
Bosnian Serb PM sends letters of support to Israeli president
BBC Monitoring Europe (Political) - January 19, 2009 Monday
Text of report by Bosnia-Hercegovina Federation public TV, on 17 January
[Presenter Sanjin Beciragic]
[Bosnian] Serb Republic premier Milorad Dodik has sent a letter of support to Israeli President Simon Peres, expressing understanding for, as he called it, the difficult position in which Israel and its citizens find themselves. At the same time he expressed his full support for efforts to secure peace and security for the people of Israel. The letter says that the RS [Serb Republic] does not endorse the anti-Israeli protests and events organized in the other part of B-H [Bosnia-Hercegovina], i.e. in the Bosnia-Hercegovina Federation.
Mr Dodik perhaps needs reminding that Israel has killed more than 1,000 civilians in Gaza so far, including 300 children.
Dodik was further condemned by Bosnia’s two main Muslim parties:
Bosnian opposition party condemns Serb PM’s support for Israel
BBC Monitoring Europe (Political) - January 19, 2009 Monday
Text of report by Bosnia-Hercegovina Federation public TV, on 17 January
[Presenter Sanjin Beciragic] The SDP [Social Democratic Party] have reacted [to letter of support by Bosnian Serb Republic PM Milorad Dodik to Israeli President Simon Peres] saying that by justifying the Israeli bombing of Gaza, Milorad Dodik actually justifies the policy of killing innocent civilians pursued in this region by his idols as personified by Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic.
Main Bosnian Muslim party calls Serb PM’s Israel support “moral plunge”
BBC Monitoring Europe (Political) - January 19, 2009 Monday
Text of report by Bosnia-Hercegovina Federation public TV, on 18 January (Muslim-Croat television)
[Presenter Mersiha Novalic]
The SDA [Party of Democratic Action], too, reacted today to a letter of support sent to the Israeli president by Bosnian Serb Republic Premier Milorad Dodik. They believe that Dodik’s letter represents the ultimate expression of a moral plunge of the inhumane principle running counter to civilization, to which Dodik subscribes, while thousands of civilian victims are still being counted in Gaza. The press release says that these values of Dodik’s cannot and are not shared by any reasonable person, including the Serb people in Bosnia-Hercegovina. Every person naturally distinguishes between good and evil, and even more so [discerns] the principle that innocent people must not be subjected to massive killing for the sake of a political idea, notes the press release.
Topic: Palestine's Mahmoud Abbas visits Bosnia (political scandal during the visit) (Read 1059 times)