US Veto Spares Israel Another Blow at UN
US Veto Spares Israel Another Blow at UN
In one of the first major foreign policy moves of the new Bush Administration, the US on Tuesday night vetoed a UN Security Council resolution calling for an international observer force to “protect” Palestinians.
Acting US Ambassador James B. Cunningham said that he regretted having to cast the veto, which could fuel Arab resentment against Washington, but that the resolution was “unbalanced, unworkable and hence unwise.” It was the first US veto of an anti-Israel resolution in the Security Council since 1997.
The PLO initiative had seven co-sponsors on the council and gained the nine votes required out 15 member nations for passage, after China and Russia voted to support it. Moscow’s decision to cast the decisive vote was a surprise, after Russia’s UN ambassador said two weeks ago they would support the resolution only if Israel consented. Russia abstained when a similar resolution came up last December, dooming the earlier effort.
The Russian switch forced the US to exercise a threatened veto, even as the Arab League was meeting in Amman, Jordan. Some diplomats linked Moscow’s decision to a new rift with the US over espionage charges.
France, Britain, Norway and Ireland abstained, and Ukraine declined to participate, arguing that the “practical implementation is impossible without the cooperation of Israel.”
Council members engaged in five days of marathon negotiations to reach a compromise before UN Secretary General Kofi Annan was to address the Arab League summit on Tuesday. But the efforts failed when the US indicated it also opposed a scaled-back European proposal that called on Annan to simply consult with Israel and the Palestinians about a protection “mechanism” for Palestinian civilians.
Pressing for a decision before the pan-Arab summit ended on Wednesday, the PLO then demanded a vote in its original proposal, which referred to Israel as an “occupying power,” called for a resumption of peace talks, an immediate halt to “all acts of violence, provocation and collective punishment,” payment of more than $50 million in tax rebates by Israel to the Palestinian Authority and an end to a blockade on Palestinian areas. It also instructed Annan to consult with the parties about setting up “an appropriate mechanism to protect Palestinian civilians, including through the establishment of a United Nations observer force.”
Palestinians reacted with disgust Tuesday to the US veto, saying it reflected badly on the Bush administration. “This is unfortunate… we were hoping for this administration to demonstrate a more balanced position,” said PLO representative Nasser Al-Kidwa.
Cunningham said the US believed the proposed strategy was not feasible without an agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.
Israel has argued that the resolution would “reward” Palestinian violence and that an observer force would likely be exploited to shield Palestinian terrorists. After the vote, Israel’s UN Ambassador Yehuda Lankry reiterated that, “once Yasser Arafat puts an end to the violence, that is the best protection for the Palestinians.” Lancry cited an on-going series of terrorist attacks, including several bombings and the shooting death of a 10-month-old Israeli girl, as reasons for why the “one-sided” resolution was rightly vetoed. “The reality of the past 24 hours has gruesomely reminded us that the double-edged sword of this conflict cuts both ways,” he said.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry released a statement today saying passage of the resolution “would have ignored Palestinian responsibility for the violence.” Israel thanked the Bush Administration for preventing the adoption of a resolution which would only have “aggravat[ed] the crisis in our region.” The ministry also expressed disappointment “at the surprising change in Russia’s position.”
The ministry statement said, “It is ironic that the members of the Security Council put forward an unbalanced proposal regarding the protection of Palestinian civilians precisely at this time, when Israeli citizens, victims of Palestinian terrorism, are being killed and injured.” Israel appealed for “an immediate stop to the acts of violence and terrorism being conducted against Israel and its citizens, among them youngsters and children.”
Used with Permission from International Christian Embassy Jerusalem.