Free Republic

UNITED NATIONS, July 19 (Reuters) - Syria barred a U.N. mission to the Middle East unless it excluded one of its members, Norwegian Terje Roed-Larsen, the U.N. adviser on Syria-Lebanon issues, a U.N. official said on Wednesday. Mark Malloch Brown, the deputy secretary-general, told reporters the mission decided not to go to Damascus because it urgently needed to return to New York to brief the U.N. Security Council on a flurry of diplomatic initiatives. "The mission did plan to go to Syria and one of the issues we would have had to grapple with is what to do with Roed-Larsen,"...

DAMASCUS, Syria - President Bashar Assad met with a top U.N. envoy Sunday amid accusations that Syria has not fully withdrawn its intelligence operatives from Lebanon and was perhaps even organizing political assassinations. U.N. envoy Terje Roed-Larsen, who met with Assad for two hours, left the country without commenting on the outcome of the talks. The government also had no comment. In a statement issued in Beirut, Lebanon, U.N. spokesman Nejib Friji said Roed-Larsen discussed with Assad "all relevant issues and they will continue their dialogue." Roed-Larsen planned to brief U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on the talks when they meet...

Dec. 15, 2004 21:06 Larsen: UN is neither anti-Israel nor anti-Semitic By GREER FAY CASHMAN While conceding that relations between Israel and the United Nations are troublesome, Terje Roed-Larsen, whose five-year term as Middle East envoy, is adamant that the UN is neither anti-Israel nor anti-Semitic. Speaking at Tel Aviv University on Wednesday, Larsen said the UN is usually accused of being anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic but UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has been unequivocal in fighting anti-Semitism and declaring that Israel's existence must be safeguarded. Larsen also denied that he personally was in anyway guilty of demonizing Israel. "I don't think...

Our Newspapers Fail Us Editorial - Israel News Agency There is no public relations or public affairs without a carrier. The most established carrier is called a newspaper. And in Israel the only newspapers which enjoy abundant readership and wealth are the Hebrew dailies – Yediot, Maariv and Haaertz. As for the English newspapers here in Israel – one is a mere translation of the Hebrew edition and the other is fifty percent wire service copy. Yes – there are some brilliant writers on these papers but their voices become deluded when you have a lack of proper leadership integrated...

Mar. 5, 2003 Larsen: Little effort by PA to curb terror By THE JERUSALEM POST INTERNET STAFF UN special envoy Terje Roed-Larsen denounced the suicide attack Wednesday afternoon on an Egged bus in Haifa, which claimed the lives of 15 and wounded more than 30, and called it "a horrible, cynic action" and "premeditated murder that could lead to no political profit." Citing security officials, Larsen claimed the two-month long respite in Palestinian suicide bombings was a function of the IDF's successes in defusing terrorist activity. According to Larsen, there was no parallel effort on the Palestinian side to curb...