Posted on 03/12/2002 8:07:00 PM PST by mykdsmom
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United States endorsed a Palestinian state late Tuesday for the first time in the Security Council, introducing a resolution that also calls for a cease-fire in the escalating Mideast conflict.
The resolution, the first offered by the United States since the latest round of fighting began in September 2000, was circulated hours after Syria introduced a Palestinian-backed measure.
The council convened shortly before midnight and was expected to vote on the U.S. resolution.
As a result of intense negotiations, the United States decided late Tuesday to amend its text by ``affirming a vision of a region where two states, Israel and Palestinian, live side by side within secure and recognized borders.''
President Bush and other administration leaders have already called for a Palestinian state, but this was its first mention by the United States in a Security Council resolution, diplomats said.
Both the U.S. and Syrian documents call for an immediate cessation of violence and a resumption of negotiations. Neither mentions outside observers to help calm the situation, which Israel opposes.
The Palestinian draft refers to Israel as ``the occupying power'' and calls for it to abide by the Fourth Geneva Convention, which governs the protection of civilians during occupation. Israel claims the land is disputed, not occupied, and maintains the convention does not apply.
The United States, Israel's closest council ally, also welcomed Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah's peace initiative and encouraged diplomatic efforts.
Since renewed Mideast violence erupted in September 2000, the United States has thwarted every effort by the Palestinians to get the Security Council to adopt a resolution that would condemn Israeli actions and create some kind of outside monitoring to help cool tensions.
Earlier Tuesday, Secretary-General Kofi Annan deliver his toughest statement on the Middle East, urging Palestinians to halt ``morally repugnant'' acts of terror and suicide bombings and Israelis to end their ``illegal occupation'' of Palestinian territory and stop using excessive force.
Calling the current fighting the worst in a decade, Annan welcomed the U.S. decision to send retired Gen. Anthony Zinni back to the region and urged Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to back his efforts to renew the peace process.
``You can still lead your people away from disaster,'' Annan said, noting that in the last 10 days, over 150 Palestinians and about 50 Israelis have died.
He also called on the Security Council ``to lend its full authority and influence to the vital cause of peace.''
U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said he believed it was the first time that Annan had called Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory ``illegal.''
Israel's U.N. Ambassador Yehuda Lancry said it was ``not a new development,'' noting that Sharon has envisioned a Palestinian state and Israel entered a process in 1993 to end its occupation. But he stressed ``we have to negotiate it.''
Nasser Al-Kidwa, the Palestinian U.N. envoy, didn't think Annan was striking a harder stance. But he said it was ``indicative that the whole world is getting ... increasingly nervous about the situation and ... wants to see an end to this occupation.''
``We might not endorse every single word of it,'' said U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte, ``but we certainly think in general terms it's a fair characterization of the situation that is prevailing in the Middle East at the moment.''
Ok, where?
The increased Palestinian terrorism over the last several months has now been rewarded.
:-)
I hereby call for a Palestinian state, supposing they can grow gills and live in the depths of the Mediterranean.
END Socialist One World Government tyranny.
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