Questions

Dear United Nations Spokesperson for the Secretary-General,
I have followed your transcripts over the past few months and have seen that an inordinate number of questions posed at the daily briefings relate to Israel. Masood, in particular, doesn't miss an opportunity to raise questions about Israel. I was particularly upset with the way he framed his question on Thursday, the 23rd of June.

"Oh, yeah, this question about this flotilla; it seems that the Secretary-General and the United Nations has succumbed to what the Israeli point of view is, that should anything, any aid should go through them. My question is: does the Secretary-General… can that aid that is being sent to Gaza by international donors and international NGOs and also some well-meaning Americans and all other citizens of the world, can that be screened before coming in so that you…"

Spokesperson: "I have no doubt that that is precisely what is advocated; that, as you put it, well-meaning donors can provide aid through established channels. The notion that this is finding favour with one party or another is just simply not correct. And as I have said a number of times, not only have we said that a flotilla at this point would be ill-advised simply because of the tensions that are already in the region, and because there are established routes, but also we’ve made it very clear that the reason why people might want to mount such an operation, such a flotilla, is because they are frustrated about the plight the people of Gaza and at the fact that crossings are limited and people have difficulty in moving in and out, and so do goods. So it is, therefore, incumbent on the Israeli authorities to do something about that. That’s an even-handed and very frank approach to the problem.

After your answer stating that the UN feels the flotilla is ill advised, the next question is about how Israel hasn't responded to the UN requests and not about how the people on the flotilla haven't responded to UN requests.

Question: "Obviously the Israelis are not responding to these requests by the United Nations and the international community."

Spokesperson: Well, that’s simply not true. As we announced earlier this week, they have told us that projects to help complete two areas of housing in Gaza have been given the go-ahead, and this is an important step. We welcome that; we now need to see it implemented as quickly as possible.

Out of a total of 11 questions, four dealt with Israel and the Palestinian territories.

My question to you. Can I attend your briefing and ask questions that would be more evenly balanced? And can you ask Masood to turn his focus to other countries which are in need of more immediate help?