Martino
11-11-2006, 12:08 PM
An Arab-backed UN resolution condemning the death of 18 Palestinians and calling on the Palestinian Authority to unilaterally end the firing of rockets on Israeli territory - and the US vetoed it.
Well done, guys.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6139968.stm
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42295000/jpg/_42295906_afp_man66.jpg
The United States has vetoed a draft resolution at the United Nations that would have condemned Israel's military operations in the Gaza Strip.
The draft was put forward by Qatar after an Israeli attack earlier this week, which killed 18 Palestinian civilians in the town of Beit Hanoun.
The US ambassador at the UN, John Bolton, described the text as unbalanced and politically motivated.
Ten of 15 Security Council members backed the resolution, four abstained.
The abstainers were the UK, Denmark, Japan and Slovakia.
This was the second time this year the US used its veto on a draft resolution on Israeli military operation in Gaza.
The first came after Israel launched an operation over the summer to free a soldier kidnapped by militants.
'Not even-handed'
The resolution condemned the Israel's military operations in Gaza as well as Wednesday's attack, and called for a withdrawal of Israeli troops from the territory.
Sections were later added calling on the Palestinian Authority to take action to end the violence and asking the UN secretary general to set up a fact-finding mission into the deaths.
Mr Bolton said the US regretted the Palestinian loss of life, but disagreed with the language used in the resolution.
"This resolution does not display an even-handed characterisation of the recent events in Gaza, nor does it advance the cause of Israeli-Palestinian peace to which we aspire and for which we are working assiduously," he said.
Qatar's ambassador said the credibility of the Security Council had been called into question by the vote and the cycle of violence in the Middle East would continue.
Israel launched its operation in and around Beit Hanoun last month in an effort to root out militants firing rockets.
The deaths were caused when what witnesses described as a volley of tank shells hit a built-up civilian area. Many of the dead were from one extended family, and included several women and children.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert apologised for the attack, describing it as a "technical failure".
Well done, guys.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6139968.stm
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42295000/jpg/_42295906_afp_man66.jpg
The United States has vetoed a draft resolution at the United Nations that would have condemned Israel's military operations in the Gaza Strip.
The draft was put forward by Qatar after an Israeli attack earlier this week, which killed 18 Palestinian civilians in the town of Beit Hanoun.
The US ambassador at the UN, John Bolton, described the text as unbalanced and politically motivated.
Ten of 15 Security Council members backed the resolution, four abstained.
The abstainers were the UK, Denmark, Japan and Slovakia.
This was the second time this year the US used its veto on a draft resolution on Israeli military operation in Gaza.
The first came after Israel launched an operation over the summer to free a soldier kidnapped by militants.
'Not even-handed'
The resolution condemned the Israel's military operations in Gaza as well as Wednesday's attack, and called for a withdrawal of Israeli troops from the territory.
Sections were later added calling on the Palestinian Authority to take action to end the violence and asking the UN secretary general to set up a fact-finding mission into the deaths.
Mr Bolton said the US regretted the Palestinian loss of life, but disagreed with the language used in the resolution.
"This resolution does not display an even-handed characterisation of the recent events in Gaza, nor does it advance the cause of Israeli-Palestinian peace to which we aspire and for which we are working assiduously," he said.
Qatar's ambassador said the credibility of the Security Council had been called into question by the vote and the cycle of violence in the Middle East would continue.
Israel launched its operation in and around Beit Hanoun last month in an effort to root out militants firing rockets.
The deaths were caused when what witnesses described as a volley of tank shells hit a built-up civilian area. Many of the dead were from one extended family, and included several women and children.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert apologised for the attack, describing it as a "technical failure".