ITU DEAL AVERTS CLASH ON PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY'S TELECOM NETWORK

Among other things, document asks member states to “make every effort to": (1) Preserve Palestinian telecom infrastructure. (2) Facilitate establishment by PA, as quickly as possible, of its own international gateway networks, including satellite earth stations, submarine cables, optical fibers and microwave systems. (3) Offer “all possible assistance” to PA to rebuild and restore its telecom system. (4) Assist PA in recovering entitlements due from incoming and outgoing international traffic. (5) Help PA implement Telecom Development Bureau projects, including building human resources.

Original resolution was offered by Saudi Arabia with backing of more than 40 other countries, Hajji told us. It referred to ITU giving “support and assistance” to rebuild Palestinian telecom network, he said. But word “rebuild” implies damage, he said, and while Israelis and Palestinians agreed there had been damage, they disagreed on whether it amounted to “destruction” or something less. After meeting with both sides, U.S. and other countries, Hajji said, wording was modified to say that part of PA’s infrastructure had been damaged significantly. Another issue was PA’s request for its own international gateway, he said. Israel appeared to agree Palestinians should have their own gateway, he said, but question was how to implement it technically. Final resolution said ITU must work toward getting PA its own gateway as soon as possible, Hajji said. That means “we are asking in an insistent manner” for that to happen, he said. In brokering Israeli-PA deal, he said, idea was to balance technical and political issues to avoid vote. “I hope the ITU tries to implement this resolution,” Hajji said, because he believes one way to help resolve Middle East conflict is to close not only digital divide but also the economic and social ones.

For 7 years, “unfortunately,” Israel has been confronted with this sort of resolution at ITU meetings, said Moshe Galili, acting dir. gen. of Israel’s Ministry of Communications. Usually it’s supported by Arab states, he told us, but this year countries in other parts of world joined in. Israel itself has sponsored and supported such resolutions, Galili said, but each time Palestinians asked for something political. ITU isn’t proper forum to make such decisions, he said. This time, he said, PA contended its entire telecom infrastructure was wiped out in 2 years of war. Israel denied existence of war, saying damage was caused by Palestinian terrorism. Moreover, said Galili, Israel disagrees with PA claims that its telecom system is totally gone, saying PA delegates handed out information at Plenipot showing growth in its telecom sector. Israel often finds itself “fighting to moderate such decisions,” Galili said. This time, he said, Israel, with help from U.S. and European countries, was able to modify draft resolution to give PA help it wanted while deleting inflammatory wording. Israel has much technical expertise to contribute to ITU, Galili said, but it ended up having “to invest the most time” in moderating resolution.

PA isn’t satisfied either, Palestinian delegate told us. Israel pays no attention either to ITU resolutions or those of other United Nations bodies, and continues to destroy authority’s broadcast and television studios as well as transmission areas, he said. PA isn’t looking for money from ITU, delegate said; it wants ITU to force Israel to let Palestinians develop their own network and “not to put obstacles in front of us.” Among other things, he said, Israel refuses to allow devices such as spectrum monitoring equipment to cross its border into Palestinian area. Moreover, he said, international Palestinian phone calls are routed through Israeli national companies despite commercial agreements to contrary. Whenever Israel invades West Bank, he said, all international calls cease. Israeli action also destroyed PA’s Internet backbone in Nablus, he said. “This is not a political matter,” delegate said, “this is a technical matter.”

For its part, U.S. accomplished “virtually everything we sought to do” at Plenipot, said David Gross, U.S. State Dept. coordinator for international communications & information policy. He attributed success to his “fabulous delegation” of govt. and industry representatives, saying they worked well as team. Key U.S. “deliverables,” Gross said, include: (1) Having U.S. reelected to ITU Council seat with highest vote tally ever for this country despite international difficulties. (2) Winning reelection of James Carroll to Radio Regulations Board, key slot for U.S. because group makes important decisions about frequency use. (3) Persuading Union to focus constructively on its finances and core competencies. One “sleeper issue” resolved at conference was expansion of definition of radio to include frequencies above 3000 GHz, important for NASA and other agencies, Gross said.

International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs) issues came out “beautifully” for U.S., which favored review but opposed rush to revision, Gross told us. After much debate, delegates finally adopted resolution that called for ITU to continue review process, and instructed Council to set up working group for that purpose. Meeting late Thurs. evening, Council members wrangled over whether to appoint chair first -- role no country appeared to want, given complexity and sensitivity of issue -- and start work in earnest after next Council meeting (next May) or to begin as soon as possible without one. U.S. formed compromise under which the Council president will ask Council members to propose chairs within one month. Once selected, chmn. will consult with member states electronically based on terms of reference for study group set out in resolution, and then will prepare report for May, when formal working group sessions are to begin.

Overall ITU reform must take 3 directions, Hajji said. “We can speak no more” of telecom, he said, but must say “information technologies.” ITU must move away from being international telecom union to being “world information society union,” he said. Issue for ITU no longer is technical but goes to use of information technology in education, e-govt., e-commerce and “e-society,” he said. For instance, Hajji said, Morocco’s mobile usage had jumped to 6 million subscribers (out of a population of 30 million) from 150,000 in 1999. Finally, he said, ITU must find way to improve relationship between public and private sectors. That will help Union’s finances (80% of which now are paid by govts.), he said. However, Hajji said, ITU then will have to make 2 different kinds of decisions -- sovereignty decisions, such as management of frequencies, that only govts. can make, and operational ones in areas such as international protocols and standards, in which private sector can participate.

Month-long Plenipot ended Fri. afternoon with formal signing ceremony.