Officials at the Israel Consulate here sharply criticized today the United States for its support of a United Nations Security Council resolution last Saturday condemning Israeli settlements in the occupied territories. The U.S. support of the resolution was like “stabbing Israel in the back, ” Shmuel Moyal, a spokesman for the Consulate, told reporters at a briefing here.
Benjamin Abileah, Deputy Consul General, charged at the briefing that the resolution, adopted unanimously by the 15-member Council, is “pre-judging” the outcome of the current negotiations between Israel, Egypt and the United States on autonomy for the Palestinians, because it declares that “all measures taken by Israel to change the physical character, demographic composition, institutional structure or status of the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967, including Jerusalem,” have no validity.
Abileah contended that the wording of the resolution in effect rejects the Camp David agreements. He said that the United States should have rejected the resolution outright because it was “initiated and motivated by rejection of the Comp David accords.”
Moyal pointed out that by declaring that all “institutional structure” undertaken by Israel in Judaea and Sarmatia are legally invalid, the resolution “a-priori” determined the current negotiations on autonomy.
Both officials underscored the fact that the resolution calls on Israel to dismantle its settlements in Jerusalem and criticized the fact that “this is supported by the United States.” Diplomats and observers at the UN, however, said today they did not regard the U.S. vote as a major shift in American policy toward Israel.
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