Posted on 09/23/2002 2:12:46 PM PDT by RCW2001
US asks UN council to pressure Israel on Ramallah
23 September 2002 20:17
By Irwin Arieff
UNITED NATIONS, Sept 23 (Reuters) - The United States introduced a draft resolution in the U.N. Security Council on Monday calling on Israel to stop destroying Palestinian installations in Ramallah.
Washington unveiled the measure on the fourth day of an Israeli siege of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Ramallah headquarters, during which Israeli soldiers destroyed every structure in the compound but the one occupied by Arafat.
Israeli forces entered the compound after two suicide bombings in Israel shattered a six-week lull in such attacks.
The 15-nation Security Council was meeting in emergency session at the request of Arab states alarmed by the siege. Washington had earlier criticized the siege as "unhelpful."
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned Israel at the start of Monday's debate that its battering away at the Palestinian Authority was "a bankrupt policy" that bolstered extremists and would never end Middle East violence.
Annan also denounced Palestinian suicide bombings as "morally repugnant" acts that ate away at hopes for a political solution in the Middle East.
"The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not going to be resolved by military might alone, or by violent means of any kind," Annan told the council.
"A policy based on forcing the other side to capitulate is a bankrupt policy. It is not working and it will never work. It only encourages desperation. It weakens moderates and strengthens extremists," Annan said.
The U.S. draft was offered as a substitute for a resolution put forward earlier by Palestinian U.N. Observer Nasser al-Kidwa, stating the council was "gravely concerned" by the Israeli reoccupation of Arafat's compound and demanding the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Palestinian cities.
BRING "TERRORISTS" TO JUSTICE
Washington's version also called on Israel to withdraw from Palestinian cities.
But it went on to ask the Jewish state "to cease measures in and around Ramallah, including the destruction of Palestinian civilian and security infrastructure, that aggravate the situation and that do not contribute to progress on comprehensive Palestinian civil and security reforms."
It demanded the complete cessation by all sides of "all acts of violence, including all acts of terror" and asked the Palestinian Authority to bring to justice those responsible for "terrorist acts."
U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte made clear in a speech to the council that Washington, which has veto power in the council and is Israel's closest ally, opposed the Palestinian draft resolution, even as he criticized the siege.
"We will not support the adoption of a one-sided text that fails to recognize that this conflict has two sides," he said.
But Negroponte stopped short of a veto threat, even though Washington had said in July it would block any Middle East resolution that failed to explicitly condemn terrorism and to condemn by name three Palestinian groups that have claimed responsibility for suicide bombings in Israel.
With the United States wooing Arab support in anticipation of a possible strike against Iraq, "Washington doesn't dare use its veto," said Ambassador Jagdish Koonjul of Mauritius.
The Quartet of international Middle East mediators -- the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations -- last week laid out a blueprint leading to a Palestinian state within three years as Israel's security concerns are addressed.
But Israeli Ambassador Yehuda Lancry blamed "Palestinian terrorist groups" for setting back peace efforts and said his country's tough military stance was the only thing standing between the suicide bombers and Israeli civilians.
"If the Palestinian leadership is unwilling to confront these demonstrated enemies of peace, then it undermines its claims to be a partner for peace," Lancry said.
Palestinian U.N. observer Nasser al-Kidwa accused Israel of defying three decades of Security Council resolutions and asked the council to "shoulder its responsibilities" and ensure these were enforced. ((United Nations bureau, +1 212 355-6053, fax 1 212 355-0143, irwin.arieff@reuters.com))
On which?
LOL! I'm sure they were tempted :)
I don't know how they've had the self-discipline not to take him out a long time ago.
This has to be the dumbest thing I have ever heard spoken, and they keep saying this over and over. Give Israel free rein get the heck out of the way, and they can have this issue settled in less than a week, by violent means.
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