U.S. vetoes Mideast resolution condemning acts of terror against Israelis and Palestinians

UNITED NATIONS -- The United States vetoed a Security Council resolution early this morning condemning "acts of terror" against Israelis and Palestinians and demanding an end to nearly 15 months of Mideast violence.

U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte said the Palestinian-backed resolution was aimed at isolating Israel politically and failed to mention the recent suicide bombings and attacks against the Jewish state, or name the terrorist organizations responsible, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

The resolution was supported by 12 of the 15 council members, with Britain and Norway abstaining.

It was the second U.S. veto this year on a Palestinian resolution seeking protection for Palestinian civilians through a monitoring mechanism, which Israel strongly opposes. The United States, Israel's closest ally, also blocked action on two similar resolutions.

Arab nations requested the council meeting after Israel cut contacts with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and launched new military strikes against Palestinian Authority targets. This followed new suicide attacks against Israelis, which Jerusalem blames on the Palestinian failure to crack down on militants.

Despite the threat of a U.S. veto, the Palestinians demanded a vote on the resolution.

"We are the little guys," said the Palestinian U.N. observer, Nasser Al-Kidwa. "We are the people under occupation, and it is our right and a duty to come to the body responsible for international peace and security, to the United Nations, to the Security Council, and try to help the situation."

If the resolution failed, he said, it was "because of unreasonable American positions."

President Bush has called on Arafat to act against those responsible for the terrorist attacks against Israel _ but has not called on Israel to exercise restraint.

The United States complained that the original draft resolution did not even mention terrorism.

The Palestinians agreed to a French amendment to condemn "all acts of terror, in particular those targeting civilians." Diplomats said this was critical in getting Russian and French support.

But Negroponte said: "One of the fundamental flaws of this resolution is that it never mentions the recent acts of terrorism against Israelis or those responsible for them."

"Terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad are deliberately _ and brutally _ seeking to sabotage any potential there may be for Israelis to conclude a negotiated peace," he said.

While reiterating the Bush administration's support for a Palestinian state, Negroponte said Arafat must "take a strategic stand now against terrorism" and arrest those responsible for terrorist attacks and destroy their operations.

Israel's deputy U.N. ambassador Aaron Jacob, echoing this view, noted that the past two weeks had seen "an unparalleled escalation in Palestinian violence against Israel, though one would never know it from the resolution."

Arafat, he said, has so far "abjectly failed" to act against the terrorists.

In an apparent reference to Israel's policy of targeted killings and destruction of Palestinian facilities, the draft resolution would have condemned "all acts of extra-judiciary executions, excessive use of force and wide destruction of properties."

The defeated resolution demanded "the immediate cessation of all acts of violence, provocation and destruction," a return to positions prior to September 2000 when the latest violence erupted, and "a final agreement on all issues."

It called for immediate implementation of recommendations of an international commission headed by former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell. These include a cooling-off period, confidence-building measures and a resumption of peace talks.

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