Spokesman’s Noon Briefing – Press release (excerpts)

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICES OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

AND THE SPOKESPERSON FOR THE PRESIDENT OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY

The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, and Pragati Pascale, Spokesperson for the General Assembly President.

…

**Questions and Answers

…

Question:  Is there a response from either the Secretary-General or UN people on the ground to the arrest of the Hamas Minister by the Israeli police?  And what is the legal position regarding that — both on the measure taken by the Israelis and whether the Palestinian Minister should have been where he was when he was arrested?

Spokesman:  My understanding is that the gentleman was released, which is good news, but I do not have a legal opinion I can share with you at this point.

…

Question:  [inaudible] Abbas Mahmoud himself said “I didn’t send any letter to the United Nations, I didn’t give them a proposal to accept two States”, and you said, “We are still studying the letter.”

Spokesman:  Yes, you know, we are studying a letter we received from the Palestinian Permanent Observer Mission.  That is the official letter we received.  We are studying that, and when we have something more to add, we will let you know.

Question:  [inaudible]

Spokesman:  I understand.  We have seen the press reports.  What I can tell you is that we have received an official letter from the Palestinian Observer Mission, and we are taking a look at that letter.

…

* *** *

For information media • not an official record