UN Passes Mideast Resolution

By DAFNA LINZER
.c The Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS (Sept. 24) - The United States stood alone early Tuesday by abstaining as the Security Council approved a compromise resolution demanding that Israel cease actions around Yasser Arafat's West Bank compound while condemning terrorist attacks.

The resolution, which passed 14-0, was negotiated by the European Union and combined language from competing American and Arab proposals.

``The resolution that we've adopted this evening was flawed in our view in that it failed to explicitly condemn the terrorist groups and those who provide them with political cover, support and safe haven in perpetuating conflict in the Middle East,'' Deputy U.S. ambassador James Cunningham said.

But the vote was a victory for the Palestinians and their Syrian backers on the 15-member Security Council.

The Palestinians have failed several times to secure a resolution since violence broke out in the Middle East in September 2000. The United States, one of five permanent council members with veto power, blocked a similar Palestinian resolution in December.

The United States had threatened to do so again but ultimately abstained on Tuesday when some of the language it had sought - condemning terrorist attacks and bringing the perpetrators to justice - was inserted into the final text.

But the United States refused to approve the resolution because it failed to mention Israel's security concerns or specifically identify Hamas and Islamic Jihad as the two militant groups responsible for two deadly suicide bombings in Israel last week.

U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte said Monday that the United States would not support a ``one-sided resolution that fails to recognize that this conflict has two sides, that fails to condemn acts of terror and the groups that perpetrate them and that fails to call for the dismantling of the networks that threaten all the people of the Middle East, both Arab and Israeli.''

The original Palestinian draft blamed Israel for the upsurge in violence, demanded its withdrawal from Palestinian cities and expressed concern for the humanitarian plight of the Palestinian people.

It did not address Israel's security concerns or mention Palestinian suicide bombings, including the two last week that prompted Israeli troops to surround Arafat's West Bank headquarters and demolish buildings inside the compound.

The approved resolution ``demands that Israel immediately cease measures in and around Ramallah, including the destruction of Palestinian civilian and security infrastructure.''

It further demands ``the withdrawal of the Israeli occupying forces from Palestinian cities toward the return to positions held prior to September 2000.''

The resolution also ``calls on the Palestinian Authority to meet its expressed commitment to ensure that those responsible for terrorist acts are brought to justice,'' and it reiterates a demand for the cessation of all acts of violence.

When it became clear late Monday that the Palestinians were going to push for a vote on their text, the United States submitted its own proposal to condemn the suicide bombings, name Islamic Jihad and Hamas as the responsible parties and call for the two militant groups to be treated as terrorist organizations under the provisions of an anti-terrorism resolution passed after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Using unusually harsh language to criticize Israel, the U.S. draft also expressed grave concern for Israel's actions at Arafat's compound which ``aggravate the situation and ... do not contribute to progress on comprehensive Palestinian civil and security reforms.''

But the Palestinians and their Arab partners on the Security Council rejected the American draft, setting off 10 hours of negotiations as France, Britain, Norway and Ireland worked to find a compromise.

Under pressure to act in the face of escalating death and destruction in the Middle East, the Security Council opened its chamber Monday to debate on the crisis and was in-and-out of private consultations all day on the matter.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan asked both sides to reverse course in exchange for a peaceful solution to the 54-year-old conflict.

Calling terrorist attacks ``morally repugnant,'' Annan urged all Palestinians, ``especially the leaders of all political factions, to renounce this wicked instrument of terror clearly and irrevocably, now and forever.''

To the Israelis, he appealed for ``greater care to protect civilians'' and to cease acts which hinder Palestinian progress on reform and security.

In his speech, Palestinian representative Nasser Al-Kidwa described Israel's actions around Arafat's compound as ``dangerous, criminal and illegal.''

Israel's ambassador, Yehuda Lancry, said Israel's military measures were ``the only thing which stands between Palestinian terrorists and their Israeli victims.''

09/24/02 03:46 EDT

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Great.. another one sided resolution from the U.N. What would happen if Israel does not follow this new resolution?

 

How would they go about enforcing the resolutions though?

There is a good chance they won't budge until Arafat tells them who is holed up in there. Obviously they are important enough to where he won't open his mouth.

 

Just as I thought:

The paragraph that is bolded is how I feel. The UN Resolution is one-sided and Israel feels that there are definitely some people in the complex worth arresting.

By JAMIE TARABAY
.c The Associated Press

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Sept. 24) - Israel defied a U.N. Security Council demand Tuesday to end its six-day siege of Yasser Arafat's devastated West Bank headquarters, and nine Palestinians were killed in an Israeli strike against alleged munitions factories and other targets in Gaza City.

Israel's siege drew criticism from President Bush and many Israelis who questioned the wisdom of a military operation that may have boosted the Palestinian leader's popularity at a time when voices had begun to be heard urging him to share power.

Sporadic pro-Arafat demonstrations persisted Tuesday despite curfews imposed in the West Bank in an effort to halt suicide attacks.

With the United States abstaining, the Security Council demanded early Tuesday that Israel end its operations, ``including the destruction of Palestinian civilian and security infrastructure.'' The resolution also called on the Palestinian Authority to ensure ``those responsible for terrorist acts are brought to justice.''

In Washington, Bush said: ``We've got to end the suffering. I thought the actions the Israelis took were not helpful in terms of the establishment and development of the institutions necessary for a Palestinian state to emerge.''

Unmoved, Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said that ``no resolution, and no person, can take from us our exclusive right to defend our homes, our people.''

Cabinet Secretary Gideon Saar said the siege would continue until some 200 people inside the compound give up, asserting many are terrorists who must be put on trial. Apparently hinting at possible use of force, he added: ``I'm not convinced it will end in them being given up - but it must end with their capture.''

Palestinians took heart from the U.N. resolution. Arafat released a statement praising it, and Cabinet Minister Saeb Erekat said it should be enforced, ``because Israel is the champion of nations undermining Security Council resolutions and not implementing'' them.

Telephone lines to Arafat's building were cut Tuesday, Palestinians said, leaving Arafat and his aides with only cellular phones to communicate with the outside world. Israel's army denied any knowledge of the cut lines.

Israeli soldiers, tightly ringing Arafat's building with tanks, didn't allow visitors inside, but the military eased restrictions for reporters in the rest of Ramallah, letting them enter and leave town.

Only two weeks ago, Arafat absorbed his worst-ever internal setback when the Palestinian legislature forced his Cabinet to resign, reflecting growing popular discontent with government mismanagement and the handling of the two years of violence with Israel.

Before Thursday - when Israeli tanks attacked Arafat's compound in response to two Palestinian suicide bombings that left the bombers and seven other people dead - Palestinians were openly discussing limiting Arafat's powers.

Now, the mood may have shifted. Masked gunmen opened fire Tuesday at the house of Nabil Amr, Palestinian security officials said. No one was hurt. Amr is a former Arafat aide turned critic who is a leading voice calling for a prime minister to take over some of Arafat's duties.

Earlier Tuesday, dozens of Israeli tanks moved deep into Gaza City, exchanging fire with Palestinian gunmen and killing nine people, including six civilians.

The Israeli military said its forces blew up 13 weapons workshops and the house of a Hamas militant who killed five Israeli teenagers in a shooting rampage in a Jewish settlement in Gaza earlier this year.

Palestinians said it was the largest Israeli operation in Gaza during two years of fighting, involving about 60 tanks and armored vehicles.

09/24/02 22:15 EDT

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