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The vote was passed by 14 member states, but the U.S. representative abstained
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UNITED
NATIONS (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - The U.N. Security
Council passed a resolution late Wednesday, May 20, condemning Israel
for killing Palestinian civilians and demolishing their houses in the
southern Gaza Strip refugee camp of Rafah.
The
United States, which had in the past killed several such resolutions,
abstained this time instead of wielding its veto power, reported Agence
France-Presse (AFP).
The
resolution expresses grave concern at "the recent demolition of
homes committed by Israel, the occupying power, in the Rafah refugee
camp."
It
"calls on Israel to respect its obligations under international
humanitarian law and insists, in particular, on its obligation not to
undertake demolition of homes contrary to that law."
The
original resolution's demand that Israel immediately stop the
demolitions was dropped to avoid a U.S. veto, the Associated Press
quoted U.N. diplomats as saying.
The
14-0 vote came hours after at least 22 Palestinians, most
of them children ,
were killed when Israeli forces opened fire on a peaceful demonstration
in Rafah, drawing an international outcry.
The
U.N. said the demolitions drove some 1,600 people out of their homes
during the massive offensive, dismissed by Amnesty International as
"war crimes
".
Worrying
Ambassador
Abdallah Baali of Algeria, the lone Arab nation on the 15-member
council, welcomed the fact that the often fractious council had been
able to reach a kind of consensus on the measure.
"(Israel)
cannot continue to flout ... norms of international law with
impunity," he said.
"After
today's butchery, Israel would be well counseled to heed the voice of
reason."
Algeria
introduced the resolution Tuesday, May 18, sparking 24 hours of
negotiations as Washington pushed to soften the criticism and include
language pressing both the Palestinians and Israelis to adhere to the
roadmap peace plan.
U.N.
Secretary General Kofi Annan, who was on hand for the vote, said the
Israeli army actions were "very worrying" and that he had
received a call asking for help from Palestinian President Yasser
Arafat.
"We
believe every action should be taken to protect the civilians. That's
why I appeal to the Israeli government to halt this action and exercise
much more restraint," he said.
No
Veto
The
Palestinian U.N. representative, Nasser al-Kidwa, said the resolution
was "not everything that we wanted" but called it a
"minimum position" to start from.
"At
least there was no veto," he said.
In
explaining the unusual abstention, U.S. deputy ambassador James
Cunningham said the Israeli actions in Gaza Strip do not "serve the
purposes of peace and security."
But
he said the United States could not back the resolution because it did
not take sufficient account of the "context" of anti-Israeli
attacks.
"It
is clear that the Palestinian Authority has not taken serious action to
address this threat or to put an end to terrorist acts," Cunningham
claimed.
Israel's
military incursion in Gaza has drawn condemnation from around the world,
and even staunch ally Washington has expressed concern.
But
the abstention marked a turnabout from earlier stance in which
Washington used the veto power to kill off any anti-Israeli draft
resolutions in the council.
Thirty-two
draft resolutions criticizing Israel since 1972 have
never seen the light because the U.S. used its Security Council veto to block them.
On
October 14, the U.S. vetoed
a Syrian-proposed Security Council resolution condemning Israel for
continuing its construction of the separation wall, which snakes through
the Palestinian territories in the West Bank.
In
September, the U.S. employed its veto to kill
an Arab-driven resolution condemning Israel for its decision to expel
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.
Undeterred
But
as the Palestinians hailed the vote by the council, the Israeli
ambassador quickly said the measure would not halt the crackdown in the
Gaza Strip.
Dan
Gillerman said after the vote the resolution does not carry "call
on Israel to stop its activity and did not call on Israel to stop the
demolition of houses".
"We
will continue to do what we must do to protect our citizens," he
added adamantly.
Israeli
occupation forces killed six more Palestinians in continued raids on
Rafah a few hours after the vote.
