Posted on 09/16/2003 9:00:05 AM PDT by Pan_Yans Wife
The United States said Tuesday it is not satisfied with a revised draft resolution demanding that the United Nations ensure the safety of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, and a quick vote was unlikely.
Syria had intended to push for a vote after a daylong open Security Council meeting Monday on the Middle East, but was persuaded to amend it and delay the vote for a day.
But U.S. deputy ambassador James Cunningham told reporters Tuesday after seeing the new text that more consultations were needed.
"I don't think the revised text is any different from the previous text. Draw your own conclusions," he said. "I'm not sure it's going to come to a vote - or when it's going to come to a vote."
America's U.N. Ambassador John Negroponte said on Monday he would not support the resolution unless it contained a "robust condemnation of terrorism" and specifically mentioned groups like Hamas and the Al-Aqsa Brigades.
He didn't say a U.S. veto was imminent.
Representatives from more than 40 countries spoke in Monday's Security Council debate. It followed Israel's promise last week to "remove" Yasser Arafat, an announcement that drew criticism from around the world, including the United States.
The draft "demands that Israel, the occupying power, desist from any act of deportation and to cease any threat to the safety of the elected president of the Palestinian Authority."
The revised draft being circulated to council members added stronger language condemning Israel's targeted assassinations of militant leaders and Palestinian suicide bombings, "all of which caused enormous suffering and many innocent victims."
It called for a cessation of "all acts of terror."
Vice Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said killing Arafat was an option, but later Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom backtracked on Olmert's remark.
The Palestinians are urging the Security Council to demand that Israel ensure Arafat's safety and prevent his deportation. Key council members are pushing both parties to implement the peace plan backed by the United States, Russia, the United Nations and the European Union.
The European socialist philosophy of siding with the "weak" is the result of 50 years of education poisoning by the intellectual elites in France and Germany.
When civilization begins to appease barbarians, you can be certain its decline is in progress.
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