| Author | Message | | Sami | | Posted: Sat Dec 21, 2002 5:28 pm Post subject: US Vetoes UN's Israel Condemnation Resolution (12-21-02) |
| UNITED NATIONS (AP)--The United States vetoed an Arab- backed resolution that would have condemned Israel for the recent killings of three U.N. workers, saying it was ``inappropriate'' to single out the Israelis.
Twelve other council members--including close U.S. ally Britain _ voted in favor of the resolution Friday. Bulgaria and Cameroon abstained.
The resolution expressed ``grave concern'' at the killings by Israeli troops and demanded that Israel ``refrain from the excessive and disproportionate use of force in the Occupied Palestinian territories.'' It also demanded that Israel comply fully with its obligations under the Fourth Geneva Convention, which deals with the protection of civilians during war.
But the veto by the United States--one of five permanent council members with such power--means that the resolution was not adopted. The last U.S. veto, in December 2001, also was cast against a Mideast resolution and critics accused the Americans of being biased toward the Israelis.
``The proponents of this resolution appear more intent on condemning Israeli occupation than on ensuring the safety of United Nations personnel,'' U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte said before the vote.
``Mixing these two issues is inappropriate and weakens the Council's voice on the need for both parties to take steps to avoid actions that endanger innocent civilians and United Nations staff,'' he added.
Syria's U.N. Ambassador Mikhail Wehbe, the only Arab member of the council, rejected U.S. attempts to amend the resolution to eliminate the reference to Israel's disproportionate use of force. The United States would also have dropped the demand for Israel to comply with the Fourth Geneva Convention.
``We ... do not believe that it is in any way permissible to give Israel the right to kill United Nations personnel without accountability or sanction,'' Wehbe said.
``If the Security Council is unable to put an end to such Israeli practices because of the protection given by one permanent member state to Israel, that will open the door wide to flouting international humanitarian law,'' he said.
Negroponte, who called the Syrian draft ``one-sided,'' said the United States reserves the right to resubmit its draft next week.
The U.S. veto came hours after top U.S., U.N., European Union and Russian officials met in Washington to work on a roadmap to Israeli- Palestinian peace that envisions two states living in harmony.
``Adoption of this resolution does not contribute to an environment where both sides would be ready to move forward in implementing the practical steps in the roadmap,'' Negroponte said.
In Washington, a statement issued after the peace plan meeting deplored the killing of innocent Palestinians and U.N. workers in Israeli security operations. It said Israel should change its rules for countering terror to avoid civilian casualties and withdraw troops from populated Palestinian areas in the West Bank and Gaza.
Nasser Al-Kidwa, the Palestinian U.N. envoy, also accused the United States of protecting Israel from Security Council condemnation.
Israel's deputy U.N. ambassador Aaron Jacob expressed regret for the deaths, and accepted that attention must be paid to Israel's action. But he said ``we cannot help but be distressed with what seems to be a singular attempt to focus on Israel.''
Israeli soldiers shot and killed Briton Iain Hook on Nov. 22 during a gunbattle with armed Palestinians in the West Bank. The army said its soldiers mistook Hook's cell phone for a weapon after gunmen entered the U.N. compound. The U.N. relief agency denies that gunmen had entered the compound.
Two Palestinian school employees working for a U.N. relief agency were among 10 Palestinians killed in Gaza on Dec. 6.
The Syrian resolution also would have expressed ``deep concern'' at Israel's destruction of a U.N. World Food Program warehouse in Beit Lahiya, in the Gaza Strip, on Nov. 30. | |  | | Guest | | Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2002 12:44 am Post subject: Re: US Vetoes UN's Israel Condemnation Resolution (12-21-02) |
| | Sami wrote: | UNITED NATIONS (AP)--The United States vetoed an Arab- backed resolution that would have condemned Israel for the recent killings of three U.N. workers, saying it was ``inappropriate'' to single out the Israelis.
Twelve other council members--including close U.S. ally Britain _ voted in favor of the resolution Friday. Bulgaria and Cameroon abstained.
The resolution expressed ``grave concern'' at the killings by Israeli troops and demanded that Israel ``refrain from the excessive and disproportionate use of force in the Occupied Palestinian territories.'' It also demanded that Israel comply fully with its obligations under the Fourth Geneva Convention, which deals with the protection of civilians during war.
But the veto by the United States--one of five permanent council members with such power--means that the resolution was not adopted. The last U.S. veto, in December 2001, also was cast against a Mideast resolution and critics accused the Americans of being biased toward the Israelis.
``The proponents of this resolution appear more intent on condemning Israeli occupation than on ensuring the safety of United Nations personnel,'' U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte said before the vote.
``Mixing these two issues is inappropriate and weakens the Council's voice on the need for both parties to take steps to avoid actions that endanger innocent civilians and United Nations staff,'' he added.
Syria's U.N. Ambassador Mikhail Wehbe, the only Arab member of the council, rejected U.S. attempts to amend the resolution to eliminate the reference to Israel's disproportionate use of force. The United States would also have dropped the demand for Israel to comply with the Fourth Geneva Convention.
``We ... do not believe that it is in any way permissible to give Israel the right to kill United Nations personnel without accountability or sanction,'' Wehbe said.
``If the Security Council is unable to put an end to such Israeli practices because of the protection given by one permanent member state to Israel, that will open the door wide to flouting international humanitarian law,'' he said.
Negroponte, who called the Syrian draft ``one-sided,'' said the United States reserves the right to resubmit its draft next week.
The U.S. veto came hours after top U.S., U.N., European Union and Russian officials met in Washington to work on a roadmap to Israeli- Palestinian peace that envisions two states living in harmony.
``Adoption of this resolution does not contribute to an environment where both sides would be ready to move forward in implementing the practical steps in the roadmap,'' Negroponte said.
In Washington, a statement issued after the peace plan meeting deplored the killing of innocent Palestinians and U.N. workers in Israeli security operations. It said Israel should change its rules for countering terror to avoid civilian casualties and withdraw troops from populated Palestinian areas in the West Bank and Gaza.
Nasser Al-Kidwa, the Palestinian U.N. envoy, also accused the United States of protecting Israel from Security Council condemnation.
Israel's deputy U.N. ambassador Aaron Jacob expressed regret for the deaths, and accepted that attention must be paid to Israel's action. But he said ``we cannot help but be distressed with what seems to be a singular attempt to focus on Israel.''
Israeli soldiers shot and killed Briton Iain Hook on Nov. 22 during a gunbattle with armed Palestinians in the West Bank. The army said its soldiers mistook Hook's cell phone for a weapon after gunmen entered the U.N. compound. The U.N. relief agency denies that gunmen had entered the compound.
Two Palestinian school employees working for a U.N. relief agency were among 10 Palestinians killed in Gaza on Dec. 6.
The Syrian resolution also would have expressed ``deep concern'' at Israel's destruction of a U.N. World Food Program warehouse in Beit Lahiya, in the Gaza Strip, on Nov. 30. |
This absolutely infuriates me in how the Zionist cabal in the Bush regime and the pro-Israel (AIPAC) lobby can infest and influence my country (the USA which has been hijacked by Zionism) to do such in the UN (as the above shows that Israel and the rogue state's lackeys in the US government have no regard for the lives of those UN workers who were murdered by Israel as such will only encourage more murder with impunity by the ruthless Israeli IDF):
The Bush Administration's Dual Loyalties:
http://www.warwithoutend.co.uk/middle-east-and-asia/2002/12/19/the-bush-administration-s-dual-loyalties.php | | | | Guest | | | | Guest | | | | Guest | | | | Guest | | | | Guest | | Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2002 5:31 am Post subject: Israeli IDF Continues to Murder... |
| HEAR PALESTINE
*****************
Friday, 20 December 2002
NEWS
**Palestinian Resident Killed during Israeli Invasion of Deir al-Balah;
Settler Killed in Gaza Strip
**Nablus: Home Demolished in New Askar Refugee Camp
**Bethlehem: Arrests and Oppressive Measures
**Jenin: 20 Residents Arrested during Military Invasion; Soldier
Slightly Wounded
FEATURES
**Rafah: Alaa's Friends and Family in Shock at his Death **Peaceful
Demonstration removes the Nablus Gate **Toubas-Jenin Road: Loss of
Geographical Bearings **Wall Transfers Qalqilya into Real Prison with
Gate
************************************************************************
Soldiers Kill Child in Rafah and Armored Vehicle Kills Worker in
Maythaloun (19 December 2002): Nada Madhi (11 years old) was killed
yesterday with a heavy bullet in the chest, fired by Israeli occupation
soldiers based near Salah al-Din Gate at the border strip of Rafah.
Madhi had just returned from school, still wearing her school uniform.
As soon as she entered her room on the 3rd floor of her family's house
located on Omar Ben al-Khattab Street in front of the gate, the daily
sounds of bullets fired by occupation soldiers from their bases and
tanks along the border strip started. She was hit in the chest from a
distance of 1200 meters, from Salah al-Din Gate. Occupation soldiers
also killed a worker from the town of Maythaloun yesterday in cold blood
and wounded another person critically when a heavy Israeli armored
vehicle intentionally drove over their car at the northern entrance of
Jaba' town. Medical sources in Jenin declared that the worker Abdallah
Rabay'a (23 years old), father of 4 children, was killed as a result of
a fractured skull, while Basil Rabay'a (22 years old) is critically
wounded. At dawn yesterday, the occupation army blew up the home of
Burhan Sarhan (46 years old) in Tulkarem refugee camp. Burhan's son,
Sarhan, is accused of being behind the Kibutz Metzer operation. Others
were also arrested from Tulkarem and surrounding villages yesterday.
Israeli soldiers based in 'Neveh Dkalim' settlement shelled homes in
Khan Younis refugee camp, al-Namsawi and al-Amal residential quarters
yesterday. The shelling resulted in severe material damage. In Hebron, 3
residents were wounded yesterday during a campaign of oppression
practiced by occupation soldiers in the city, which is placed under
curfew. Homes in Doura and Yatta were brutally raided under claims of
searching for "wanted" people.
************************************************************************
NEWS
******
*Palestinian Resident Killed during Israeli Invasion of Deir al-Balah*
Majdi Moussa (23 years old) was killed at dawn today during an Israeli
military invasion of Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip. Others were
wounded in the military attack that targeted residential areas.
The Israeli army demolished 3 homes during the invasion. 2 of these
belong to Nasser Abu Ubeid (2-story home) and Ziad Abu Musa'id
(one-story home).
10 residents were arrested before the withdrawal of the Israeli army.
Several tanks, armored vehicles and bulldozers under the cover of attack
helicopters took part in the assault on Deir al-Balah from 'Kfar Darom'
settlement, east of the city.
Occupation soldiers used a girl from the al-Zari'i family as a human
shield and forced her to walk in front of them during the wide-scale
home raids and searches carried out on Abu Arif Street.
An Israeli settler from 'Netser Hazani' settlement in the 'Gosh Qatif'
settlement blocs in the Gaza Strip was killed today near the 'Kisofim'
settlement road. The militant faction of Islamic Jihad declared
responsibility for the shooting.
************************************
*Nablus: Home Demolished in New Askar Refugee Camp*
Israeli soldiers blew up the home of Hussein Bushqar in New Askar
refugee camp today. Several adjacent homes were damaged in the attack.
************************************
*Bethlehem: Arrests and Oppressive Measures*
3 residents were arrested from al-Azza refugee camp today - Firas Jaber,
Ahmad Issa al-Azza and Mashhour al-Azza.
Earlier, at dawn, occupation soldiers arrested Jawad al-Jawarish from
Ayda refugee camp during a raid of his homes and several others.
************************************
*Jenin: Over 20 Residents Arrested during Military Invasion*
The Israeli army at dawn today arrested over 20 residents during an
invasion of the city and the adjacent al-Yamoun Town.
Over 15 war machines invaded the city, while occupation soldiers raided
several homes, mainly in the eastern quarter, al-Mirah and Abu Thahir
Mount, and forced the residents out of their homes in the cold and rain.
Over 20 people were arrested during the wide-scale campaign of brutal
home raids and searches in the city.
Occupation soldiers opened heavy machine gun fire randomly towards homes
during searches as well as demolished parts of one home and a fence of
another home.
In al-Yamoun Town, occupation soldiers arrested 11 residents during home
raids. Residents in al-Yamoun were also forced out of their homes and
made to wait under the rain. The arrested are mostly brothers from the
Abahira family.
An Israeli soldier was reportedly slightly wounded in a shooting at an
Israeli army patrol near Jenin.
************************************************************************
FEATURES
***********
*Rafah: Alaa's Friends and Family in Shock*
WAFA and Al-Ayam - The scene at the funeral of Alaa al-Sdoudi (15 years
old) yesterday was heartbreaking. The children who were supposed to be
sitting their midyear exams insisted on attending the funeral. They
seemed in shock and were crying so hard as they said goodbye to their
friend, gathering around him in a scene that made everyone around them
cry.
Ahmad Abu Mour (15 years old) one of Alaa's friends was with him when he
got killed. Ahmad lived with Alaa in al-Barazil quarter, went to the
same school and was with him the day he died. He refused but to attend
the funeral. Yahya Ashour (15 years old), another of Alaa's friends said
Alaa was so special and a very good person.
Alaa's friends lifted his pictures and screamed his name during the
funeral with uncontrollable tears running down their faces.
At his home, where Alaa was an only boy between several sisters, an
atmosphere of sadness overcame the place. Alaa was killed while standing
in front of his home in al-Barazil quarter, south Rafah, with bullets
fired randomly by Israeli tanks covering demolition and destruction
activities in the area.
After the funeral, Alaa's mother received groups of people offering
their condolences. They gathered around her in her humble home where
Alaa was brought up to talk about him in a few words.
"Yesterday, during these moments, Alaa was sitting over there having
lunch with us.." Before she could finish, the devastated mother fainted.
Those present started sprinkling water on her face. She kept waking up
and then fainting. She could never finish her story.
One of Alaa's sisters, Sahar, said Alaa was warm and loving and acted
like a grown up man despite his young age.
The area in which the family lives has become a constant target for
Israeli military attacks. Two of Alaa's cousins were previously wounded:
- Munhim Sami (16 years old) was critically wounded in the head
and
transferred to a hospital in Saudi Arabia
- Muhammad (18 years old) suffers from a permanent disability
and
would never be able to walk as a result of his injury.
************************************
*Peaceful Demonstration removes the Nablus Gate*
By Muhammad Daraghma (Al-Ayam daily newspaper)
Angry demonstrators and foreign peace activists removed the gate that
the occupation army set up in the center of Nablus lately and that
divided the city into two parts.
The demonstration that headed towards the gate was a peaceful one, in
which dozens of peace activists took part, doctors and political
activists.
The demonstrators carried signs in both Arabic and English that condemn
the division of the city and the racist policies adopted by the
occupation authorities towards the Palestinian residents.
Among the slogans were: "Freedom for Nablus", "We want Freedom of
Movement", "Occupation is Prison" and others.
The foreign activists seemed to be overcome with happiness at the site
of the removal of an ugly symbol of racism.
Over 30 American and European peace activists repeated happy slogans
similar to those repeated by demonstrators against racism and
globalization during demonstrations in American and European cities.
An American activist, Suzana, said, "This great demonstration was
organized for a great aim, which is getting rid of the prison gate that
detains behind it dozens of thousands of the residents of Nablus."
She added, "Such measures and collective punishments do not aim except
at taking away the people's humanity and to turn their life into a
nightmare."
"They terrorize the residents and not as they claim search for
terrorists," said Suzana.
The occupation army had set up the gate on Amman Street in front of the
destroyed Muqata'a (Palestinian security compound) to separate the city
into two parts. At the same time another road that links the eastern
side of the city to the western side was closed with a huge ditch and
piles of rocks and sand.
Usually, occupation soldiers use the gate as a fence to divide the city
into two parts, especially during curfew, or as a military roadblock.
************************************
*Toubas-Jenin Road: Loss of Geographical Bearings*
WAFA - The driver lost his bearings on the newly made sand route from
Toubas Town to Jenin City that crosses through the olive groves and many
trees surrounding a settlement here and a military point over there.
On many occasions, the drivers naturally lose there way on muddy paths
that spread from the south towards the north or northeast to reach the
city of Jenin.
This angered the passengers traveling with him to the city due to
necessity only.
For the seven impatient passengers, 38 years of experience on the roads
did not excuse Ahmad Daraghma's mistake. They blamed him for the delay.
He could not find the north his colleague told him about before they
took off on the journey, which has taken them over 3 hours so far.
The occupation army had closed all roads linking Toubas to Jenin since
the beginning of the Intifada, and used huge bulldozers to dig the
mountains and the valleys, which the drivers were forced to use as an
alternative to the exits closed with sand barriers.
The driver Daraghma said, "As soon as we find a route, the occupation
closes it and bulldozes it. In the meantime, other drivers find new
routes, which the bulldozers haven't reached and so on."
He continued, "It is not strange that a driver would get lost on these
routes, no matter how good the driver is and how much knowledge he has
of the geography in the area, the issue requires a new map right now or
another driver who has taken the same route."
Haj Abu Ali (80 years old) who seemed exhausted from this journey said
he would not have done had it not been for his medical operation in
Jenin hospital. He said he had to postpone his operation 4 times, but
decided yesterday that he would go no matter what the price. This was
the first time in which the Haj leaves Toubas in 2 years.
An employee who was also traveling from Toubas to Jenin said that taking
these muddy rough routes despite their danger and the time they consume
are the only choice if movement is necessary.
Thousands of people risk their lives daily taking rough alternative
routes in order to reach hospitals, work, schools and universities. Even
travel over short distances, such as between Toubas and Jenin, is only
done when necessary.
As soon as they reached their destination, they all started
congratulating each other on their arrival safely. They developed a
strong bonding with the driver who got them to their destination despite
the danger of being shot at and the difficulty in finding the way
through confusing muddy mountains and fields.
************************************
*Wall Transfers Qalqilya into Real Prison with Gate*
WAFA - The Israeli occupation army transferred the West Bank city of
Qalqilya after the establishment of the "Dividing Wall" into a large
prison surrounded by walls and towers, 8 meters high.
The wall swallows up vast areas of land in the city that is completely
besieged except for one destroyed exit where occupation soldiers are
based.
Despite the fact that the city became a prison over 2 years and no one
could leave or enter without crossing through the one exit, the
establishment of the wall around 4 sides of the city enforced the prison
situation, which the city lives.
The residents of the city say that they live in a real prison,
surrounded by walls and cement towers 8 meters high. No one is allowed
in or out of the city except through the gate established at the only
eastern entrance to the city.
Israeli soldiers based at the mentioned gate do not allow Palestinian
cars to enter the city. The residents are forced to walk long distances
on foot before waiting in long queues for the soldiers to categorize and
divide them and then issue statements such as "allowed" or "not
allowed".
The residents of the city are extremely worried at their future
following the establishment of the wall. In addition to the loss of over
30% of the city's agricultural land (annexed and confiscated) for the
purpose of the wall, the economic and agricultural future of the city is
threatened following the isolation of the city from its surrounding
villages and other Palestinian cities.
Head of Qalqilya Municiplaity Ma'rouf Zahran said that the city is being
subjected to strangulation and isolation, and that the wall steels land
and water and tightens the grip on the city with an aim of forcing out
its residents and confiscating what they have left from land, their only
source of income.
Since over 2 years, the city of Qalqilya has suffered severely from the
imposed colure. The city, which depends mainly on agriculture, was
unable to market its agricultural goods. Thousands of workers were
unable to reach their work destinations.
All this in addition to the tight military siege imposed on all
residents and the continuous Israeli military invasions of the city.
In addition to the severe economic losses inflicted on the city, the
education sector was seriously affected. The Palestinian Ministry of
Education decided to elongate the school year in order to make up for
classes lost during the long continuous periods of curfew.
Over 55 Palestinian residents were killed in Qalqilya as a result of
Israeli military attacks, hundreds were wounded and thousands of dunums
of agricultural land were confiscated as well as thousands of trees and
homes demolished.
Today, following over 2 years of siege and closure and continuous
attacks on the city, during which the occupation army destroyed anything
that came its way, the racist wall comes with an aim of killing the city
and closing any remaining chances available for the residents to live a
respectable life.
----------------------------------
Hear Palestine is a free press service offering daily mailings from the
occupied Palestinian territories. Material is analysed and compiled from
the Arabic press, radio and television transmissions, and direct
interviews by Karma Abu-Sharif.
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To find out how to join an Al-Awda action committee in your area, please visit our website at http://al-awda.org | | | | Guest | | Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2002 5:35 am Post subject: No room for justice |
| http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,864034,00.html
Comment
No room for justice
Bethlehem, like Sharpeville, has become a symbol of oppression
Ronnie Kasrils and Victoria Brittain
Saturday December 21, 2002
The Guardian
Bethlehem is a familiar talisman of peace in Christmas festivities, but
this year the innocent image is gone, perhaps for ever. Today
Bethlehem's residents are entombed in their houses 24 hours each day.
When the Church of the Nativity was besieged for weeks by the Israeli
army in April - the International Red Cross refused entry;
misinformation about priests held hostage put out by the Israeli
government; wounded Palestinians incarcerated by Israeli forces; others
killed and dozens deported to Europe or bussed to Gaza - Bethlehem
became, like Sharpeville, a name for injustice.
The parallels between the Palestinians' 50 years of struggle for
their own land and the anti-apartheid movement's decades of military and
civil campaigns for majority rule are seen as obvious in Southern
Africa, where liberation wars successfully ended colonialism and racial
oppression. That took much too long; but the international community is
even further behind in expressing outrage and taking action against
Israel than it was against the apartheid government.
Sanctions played a key role in changing perceptions, both inside
South Africa and in the rest of the world, and were one key to obtaining
majority rule. As early as 1946, before its own independence from
Britain, the Indian government called for the breaking of all links with
South Africa; in 1955 Bishop Trevor Huddleston called for a cultural
boycott; in 1959 the African National Congress called for a general
boycott; in 1961, after the Sharpeville massacre, South Africa was
forced to leave the Commonwealth. In the early 1960s the UN security
council called for a voluntary arms embargo, and in 1977 made it
mandatory.
Social, sporting, cultural and academic boycotts were greeted with
outrage when they began at the grassroots in Europe and the US. But by
the mid-1980s, when it appeared that South Africa could implode,
powerful economic sanctions were embraced by influential US politicians
opposed to the Reagan administration. The writing was on the wall for
apartheid. In 1988 the apartheid regime was forced into genuine
negotiations. It will be the same for Israel.
The apartheid state sought a military solution, as General Ariel
Sharon has always done. The white-led army occupied Namibia and southern
Angola, created proxy forces in neighbouring countries, carried out
sabotage raids and bombings in Angola, Mozambique and Zambia,
assassinated key leaders of the African National Congress in
neighbouring countries and as far afield as Paris. Inside the country
the police ran a reign of terror in black townships. Harassment,
arrests, torture and assassinations were so common that the Truth and
Reconciliation Commission sat for two years from 1996 and heard only
part of the appalling evidence.
White South Africa was brutalised by what was done in its name. Some
young whites fled abroad rather than be conscripted; others, who served
in Angola, still suffer the pain and guilt of what they did. Israel has
its own refuseniks now, and its own coming problems with the terrified
or arrogant youths who man checkpoints, ransack and demolish houses, use
civilians as human shields and target F16 fighters on packed civilian
homes.
Ian Hook, the British UN worker who was shot in the back by an
Israeli soldier in Jenin last month, may come to be a symbol of a
brutality which has to be ended. Outside Palestine few will have heard
the names of others who died around the same time, similarly unarmed and
defenceless: 95-year-old Fatima Mohamed Abeid, who was shot dead in a
stationary taxi at a checkpoint on her way home from shopping; or
24-year-old Johad Muhammed An-Natour from Nablus, riddled with bullets
as he walked to wake his neighbours to eat before the day of Ramadan
fasting; or the deaf 68-year-old from Beit Lahour in Gaza who was
crushed "to the thickness of a chocolate bar", according to his son,
Maher Salem, when the Israeli army, ignoring the family's pleas to rouse
him, bulldozed their six-storey home.
All these people came from families who are victims of the Israeli
policy of closures which, since the start of the second intifada in
September 2000, has left 75% of Palestinians below the poverty line of
$2 a day, cut average incomes by 30% since the Oslo accord a decade ago,
and led to 21% of children under five suffering from acute malnutrition.
The vast majority of these children are deeply traumatised by
experiences such as the sight of 12-year-old Muhammad Durra, shot dead
as he crouched beside his father at a Gaza checkpoint in the first days
of the intifada. Durra became the Hector Peterson of Palestine. Peterson
was the 13-year-old schoolboy shot dead in the Soweto uprising of 1976
whose picture flashed around the world, belatedly waking consciences.
The trigger for the revolt of Peterson and his friends was the
apartheid state's entrenching of second-class education for black
children. In the West Bank and Gaza education has fared even worse as a
target for destruction, disruption and harassment by the Israeli defence
forces. In the school year 2001-02, 216 students were killed and 2,514
wounded. Schools have been damaged or occupied, Ministry of Education
records destroyed. Bir Zeit University routinely faces curfews,
roadblocks and road destruction, often making it impossible to reach.
Throughout 50 years of oppression, the Palestinians have
demonstrated a determination to make whatever sacrifices are needed for
education. Today, primary school children walk hours to school over back
roads and fields to avoid checkpoints, and ad hoc schools have been set
up in homes when curfew keeps schools shut for weeks or months.
The Israeli journalist Amira Hass has written about the settlers and
others who reveal the policy behind all this brutality when they "post
thousands of leaflets and placards calling for the expulsion of Arabs;
they put it rather more bluntly: 'Them there, us here'." Hass suggests
that people like them would be described in Europe as "fascists", or
"racists", or even "neo-Nazis", and asks whether Israeli professors,
historians and those who support centrist parties and movements will
"remain silent until after the ethnic cleansing has taken place". She
could have put the same question to the international community that has
turned its collective back on the misery of Manger Square.
· Ronnie Kasrils is minister of water and forestry in South Africa;
he writes in a personal capacity. He was a member of the ANC underground
for 30 years and a senior commander of its military wing, Umkhonto We
Sizwe. He recently gave the keynote speech at a conference in London on
divestment and sanctions against Israel. Victoria Brittain, who is a
research associate in development at the LSE, chaired the conference.
victoria.brittain@guardian.co.uk
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002
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Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ | | | | Guest | | | | Guest | | Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2002 6:20 am Post subject: U.S. vetoes resolution condemning Israel for UN |
| giving a green light for Israel to continue its brutal aggression,
claiming THIS is not conducive to Mid East Peace!
Ha'aretz, December 21, 2002
U.S. vetoes resolution condemning Israel for UN
deaths
By The Associated Press
UNITED NATIONS - The United States vetoed an Arab-backed resolution
that would have condemned Israel for the recent killings of three UN
workers. The U.S. ambassador called the resolution one-sided and not
conducive to Mideast peace efforts.
Twelve other council members - including close U.S. ally Britain -
voted in favor of the resolution on Friday. Bulgaria and Cameroon
abstained.
The resolution expressed "grave concern" at the killings by Israeli
troops and demanded that Israel "refrain from the excessive and
disproportionate use of force in the Occupied Palestinian
territories." It also demanded that Israel comply fully with its
obligations under the Fourth Geneva Convention, which deals with the
protection of civilians during war.
But the veto by the United States - one of five permanent council
members with veto power - means that the resolution was not adopted.
The last U.S. veto, in December 2001, was also cast against a Mideast
resolution.
Syria's UN Ambassador Mikhail Wehbe, the only Arab member of the
council, rejected U.S. attempts to amend the resolution to eliminate
the reference to Israel's disproportionate use of force. The United
States also wanted to drop the demand for Israel to comply with the
Fourth Geneva Convention.
U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte said the United States reserves the
right to resubmit its draft next week.
Earlier, he called the Syrian draft a "one-sided" resolution "heaping
criticism on one party." Speaking in the council just before the
vote, he said the resolution's supporters "appear more intent on
condemning Israeli occupation than on ensuring the safety of UN
personnel."
Three workers for the UN agency that provides relief for Palestinian
refugees, known as UNWRA, were killed in recent weeks.
Israeli soldiers shot and killed Iain Hook, of Britain, on Nov. 22
during a gunbattle with armed Palestinians in the West Bank. The army
said its soldiers mistook a cell phone Hook was using for a weapon
and that gunmen had entered the walled UN compound. The UN relief
agency denies that gunmen had entered the compound.
Two Palestinian school employees working for UNRWA were among 10
Palestinians killed when Israeli troops conducted a raid into a
crowded Gaza refugee camp on Dec. 6 hunting for militants.
UN Mideast envoy Terje Roed-Larsen told the council Monday that the
killings highlighted the larger issue that Israeli soldiers
must "refrain from the excessive and disproportionate use of deadly
force in civilian areas."
The U.S. veto came hours after top U.S., UN, European Union and
Russian officials met in Washington to work on a roadmap to Israeli-
Palestinian peace that would see two states living side by side in
harmony and security.
"Adoption of this resolution does not contribute to an environment
where both sides would be ready to move forward in implementing the
practical steps in the roadmap," Negroponte said.
Nasser Al-Kidwa, the Palestinian UN envoy, said the Israeli attacks
against UN staff reflect its defiance of international humanitarian
law and he accused the United States of protecting Israel from
Security Council condemnation.
The U.S. "bias" towards Israel "knows no limits even if this has to
be at the expense of international law and at the expense of the
lives of those who" work in humanitarian fields, he said.
Syria's Wehbe said it is not permissible "to give Israel the right to
kill United Nations personnel without accountability or sanction."
Israel's deputy UN ambassador Aaron Jacob expressed regret for the
deaths and accepted that attention must be paid to Israel's action.
But he said "we cannot help but be distressed with what seems to be a
singular attempt to focus on Israel."
The Syrian resolution also would have expressed "deep concern" at
Israel's destruction of a UN World Food Program warehouse in Beit
Lahiya, in the Gaza Strip, on Nov. 30 "in which 537 metric tons of
donated food supplies intended for distribution to needy Palestinians
had been stored."
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?
itemNo=243428&contrassID=1&subContrassID=0&sbSubContrassID=0
*********************************************************************
U.S. Vetoes of UN Resolutions Critical of Israel (1972-2002)
Vetoes: 1972-1982
Subject Date & Meeting US Rep Casting Veto Vote
Palestine: Syrian-Lebanese Complaint. 3 power draft resolution
2/10784 9/10/1972 Bush 13-1, 1
Palestine: Examination of Middle East Situation. 8-power draft
resolution (S/10974) 7/2/1973 Scali 13-1, 0 (China not partic.)
Palestine: Egyptian-Lebanese Complaint. 5-power draft power
resolution (S/11898) 12/8/1975 Moynihan 13-1, 1
Palestine: Middle East Problem, including Palestinian question. 6-
power draft resolution (S/11940) 1/26/1976 Moynihan 9-1,3 (China &
Libya not partic.)
Palestine: Situation in Occupied Arab Territories. 5-power draft
resolution (S/12022) 3/25/1976 Scranton 14-1,0
Palestine: Report on Committee on Rights of Palestinian People. 4-
power draft resolution (S/121119) 6/29/1976 Sherer 10-1,4
Palestine: Palestinian Rights. Tunisian draft resolution. (S/13911)
4/30/1980 McHenry 10-1,4
Palestine: Golan Heights. Jordan draft resolution. (S/14832/Rev. 2)
1/20/1982 Kirkpatrick 9-1,5
Palestine: Situation in Occupied Territories, Jordan draft resolution
(S/14943) 4/2/1982 Lichenstein 13-1,1
Palestine: Incident at the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. 4-power
draft resolution 4/20/1982 Kirpatrick 14-1, 0
Palestine: Conflict in Lebanon. Spain draft resolution. (S/15185)
6/8/1982 Kirpatrick 14-1,0
Palestine: Conflict in Lebanon. France draft resolution.
(S/15255/Rev. 2) 6/26/1982 Lichenstein 14-1
Palestine: Conflict in Lebanon. USSR draft resolution. (S/15347/Rev.
1, as orally amended) 8/6/1982 Lichenstein 11-1,3
Palestine: Situation in Occupied Territories, 20-power draft
resolution (S/15895) 8/2/1983 Lichenstein 13-1,1
Security Council Vetoes/Negative voting 1983-present
Subject Date Vote
Occupied Arab Territories: Wholesale condemnation of Israeli
settlement policies - not adopted 1983
S. Lebanon: Condemns Israeli action in southern Lebanon. S/16732
9/6/1984 Vetoed: 13-1 (U.S.), with 1 abstention (UK)
Occupied Territories: Deplores "repressive measures" by Israel
against Arab population. S/19459.
9/13/1985 Vetoed: 10-1 (U.S.), with 4 abstentions (Australia,
Denmark, UK, France)
Lebanon: Condemns Israeli practices against civilians in southern
Lebanon. S/17000. 3/12/1985 Vetoed: 11-1 (U.S.), with 3 abstentions
(Australia, Denmark, UK)
Occupied Territories: Calls upon Israel to respect Muslim holy
places. S/17769/Rev. 1 1/30/1986 Vetoed: 13-1 (US), with one
abstention (Thailand)
Lebanon: Condemns Israeli practices against civilians in southern
Lebanon. S/17730/Rev. 2. 1/17/1986 Vetoed: 11-1 (U.S.), with 3
abstentions (Australia, Denmark, UK)
Libya/Israel: Condemns Israeli interception of Libyan plane.
S/17796/Rev. 1. 2/6/1986 Vetoed: 10 -1 (US), with 4 abstentions
(Australia, Denmark, France, UK)
Lebanon: Draft strongly deplored repeated Israeli attacks against
Lebanese territory and other measures and practices against the
civilian population; (S/19434) 1/18/1988 vetoed 13-1 (US), with 1
abstention (UK)
Lebanon: Draft condemned recent invasion by Israeli forces of
Southern Lebanon and repeated a call for the immediate withdrawal of
all Israeli forces from Lebanese territory; (S/19868) 5/10/1988
vetoed 14-1 (US)
Lebanon: Draft strongly deplored the recent Israeli attack against
Lebanese territory on 9 December 1988; (S/20322) 12/14/1988 vetoed 14-
1 (US)
Occupied territories: Draft called on Israel to accept de jure
applicability of the 4th Geneva Convention; (S/19466) 1988 vetoed 14-
1 (US)
Occupied territories: Draft urged Israel to abide by the Fourth
Geneva Convention, rescind the order to deport Palestinian civilians,
and condemned policies and practices of Israel that violate the human
rights of the Palestinian people in the occupied territories;
(S/19780) 1988 vetoed 14-1 (US)
Occupied territories: Strongly deplored Israeli policies and
practices in the occupied territories, and strongly deplored also
Israel's continued disregard of relevant Security Council decisions.
2/17/1989 Vetoed 14-1 (US)
Occupied territories: Condemned Israeli policies and practices in the
occupied territories. 6/9/1989 Vetoed 14-1 (US)
Occupied territories: Deplored Israel's policies and practices in the
occupied territories. 11/7/1989 Vetoed 14-1 (US)
Occupied territories: NAM draft resolution to create a commission and
send three security council members to Rishon Lezion, where an
Israeli gunmen shot down seven Palestinian workers. 5/31/1990 Vetoed
14-1 (US)
Middle East: Confirms that the expropriation of land by Israel in
East Jerusalem is invalid and in violation of relevant Security
Council resolutions and provisions of the Fourth Geneva convention;
expresses support of peace process, including the Declaration of
Principles of 9/13/1993 5/17/1995 Vetoed 14-1 (US)
Middle East: Calls upon Israeli authorities to refrain from all
actions or measures, including settlement activities. 3/7/1997 Vetoed
14-1 (US)
Middle East: Demands that Israel cease construction of the settlement
in east Jerusalem (called Jabal Abu Ghneim by the Palestinians and
Har Homa by Israel), as well as all the other Israeli settlement
activity in the occupied territories 3/21/1997 Vetoed 13-1,1 (US)
Call for UN Observers Force in West Bank, Gaza3/27/2001Vetoed 9-1
(US), with four abstentions
(Britain, France, Ireland and Norway)
Condemned acts of terror, demanded an end to violence and the
establishment of a monitoring mechanism to bring in
observers.12/15/2001Vetoed 12-1 (US) with two abstentions (Britain
and Norway)
b
----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------
Source: U.S. State Department
http://www.state.gov/
http://www.vanguardnewsnetwork.com/temp/TerrorTimeline/2002_USVetoesUN
forIsrael.htm
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