It is not permissible "to give Israel the right to kill United Nations personnel without accountability or sanction," says Wehbe

UNITED NATIONS, December 21 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The United States late Friday, December 20, vetoed a U.N. Security Council draft resolution proposed by Syria that would have condemned Israel for the murders of several U.N. employees in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Of the 15 U.N. Security Council members, 12, including Britain, voted for the resolution and two - Bulgaria and Cameroon – abstained, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported Saturday, December 21.

The United States, as one of the five permanent members of the security council, wields an absolute veto over any council action.

"We had circulated an alternative draft covering all the questions," said U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte.

"Unfortunately, the sponsor (Syria) refuses to engage our proposition."

Negroponte said that, in voting against the resolution, the United States remained "deeply concerned by the situation of U.N. employees in conflict situation."

The draft resolution was in response to the death of several United Nations employees killed by Israeli occupation forces as well as the destruction of a World Food Program warehouse and its contents of 537 tons of food aid in the Gaza Strip.

Syria had been pressing the resolution since the start of the week, but the United States had been blocking it.

The latest draft resolution proposed by Syria and released to the press, condemns the "killings and destruction" by Israeli troops in the occupied Palestinian territories, including the November 22 death of British U.N. worker Iain Hook who was shot by Israeli forces at a Jenin refugee camp.

The draft resolution expressed "grave concern at the killing by the Israeli occupying forces of several United Nations employees, including the recent killing of one international staff member in the Jenin refugee camp".

The draft 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 November 30 "in which 537 metric tons of donated food supplies intended for distribution to needy Palestinians had been stored."

The U.S. diplomat said Washington wanted the resolution to include "a robust condemnation of acts of terrorism and all forms of incitement to terrorism."

It wanted the text to name and condemn Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades "as organizations responsible for acts of terrorism" and "call for dismantling the infrastructure, which supports these terror operations wherever located."

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, reported the Israeli Ha’aretz newspaper Saturday.

The last U.S. veto, in December 2001, was also cast against a Mideast resolution.

Syria's U.N. Ambassador Mikhail Wehbe, the only Arab member of the council, opposed 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.

The American ambassador called the 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 U.N. personnel."

Three workers for the U.N. agency that provides relief for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, were killed in recent weeks.

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 December 6.

U.N. 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."

"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 U.N. envoy, said the Israeli attacks against U.N. 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 U.N. ambassador Aaron Jacob expressed regret for the deaths and accepted that attention must be paid to Israel's action.