[WCUSP] US/Bolton vetoes UN resolution condemning Israel for Gaza massacre

[KATHARLOW at aol.com]

_http://news.http://newhttp://news.<Whttp://news.<Whttp:_ 
(http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061111/wl_nm/mideast_un_dc)  
U.S. vetoes U.N.  resolution condemning Israel 
By Irwin  Arieff 44 minutes  ago  
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The  United States on Saturday vetoed a _U.N. 
Security  Council_ 
(http://search.news.yahoo.com/search/news/?p=U.N.+Security+Council)  resolution urging an immediate  withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza 
and condemning an  Israeli attack there that killed 18 Palestinian civilians.  
Nine of the council's 15 members  voted for the measure, while four 
abstained: Britain, Denmark, Japan and Slovakia. 
But the "no" vote cast by U.S.  Ambassador John Bolton -- his second since he 
arrived at U.N. headquarters in  August 2005 -- was enough to kill the 
resolution. 
Bolton's first veto, on July 13, 2006, killed a  resolution reacting to an 
earlier Israeli incursion in Gaza. 
The United  States has cast 82 vetoes in  the        United Nations' 61 
years, and nine  of the last 10 council vetoes, seven of which dealt with  the      
  Israel-Palestinian  conflict. 
The measure defeated on Saturday was  backed by Arab, Islamic and nonaligned 
nations and formally proposed by Qatar. 
It would have called on  the        Palestinian Authority to "take  immediate 
and sustained action to bring an end to violence, including the firing  of 
rockets on Israeli territory." 
It would have urged the  international community to take steps to stabilize 
the situation, revive the Middle East peace  process and consider "the possible 
establishment of an international mechanism"  for the protection of 
civilians. 
It also would have condemned Israeli  military operations in Gaza and called 
on the  Jewish state to withdraw all troops from Gaza and end its  operations 
in all Palestinian lands. 
ACCIDENTAL 'TECHNICAL  FAILURE' 
Seven children and four women were  among the dead in Wednesday's shelling of 
Beit Hanoun, for which Prime Minister  Ehud Olmert has apologized, calling it 
an accidental "technical failure" by the  Israeli military. 
But Palestinian leaders have called  it a massacre. 
Bolton said Washington regretted  the loss of life but was "disturbed at 
language in the resolution that is in  many places biased against Israel and 
politically  motivated." 
He said the suggestion of a  mechanism to protect civilians would raise false 
hopes, and he was disturbed the  measure made no mention of the word 
"terrorism" or the Palestinians' elected  Hamas government, which refuses to 
acknowledge Israel's right to exist or  renounce violence. 
Palestinian U.N. Observer Riyad  Mansour said Arab foreign ministers meeting 
in Cairo on Sunday would decide  on the next steps following the measure's 
defeat. One option was to bring the  measure to a vote in the 192-nation General 
Assembly, where Washington did not  have veto power. 
The U.S. veto sent  the wrong message to both Israeli and Palestinian 
militants, Mansour told  reporters. "Will that help extremist elements to take issues 
into their own  hands on both sides? You bet!" 
Governments that abstained said they  were unable to support the text because 
it was unbalanced. 
"It is absolutely right that the  Security Council should meet on this 
important issue," said British Deputy  Ambassador Karen Pierce. But "any statement 
from this council must be balanced  and must serve the interests of both 
parties, and that interest is peace."  
Congo Republic Ambassador Basile  Ikouebe, who voted for the measure, 
expressed "deep disappointment" that the  veto had prevented council members from 
being "able to express ourselves clearly  on such a serious  situation."




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