Security Council Issues Statement Deploring Israeli Deportation Order

Invoking the recent murders of Israeli civilians by Arabs, Israel said it regrets a statement issued by the Security Council on Wednesday evening deploring Israel’s decision to order the deportation of four Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.

“Obliged to maintain security, Israel has decided to invoke, as a last resort, an administrative measure permitted by the law in force in the territories and authorized by Israel’s Supreme Court,” Israel’s statement read.

Although the four Palestinians are not charged with murdering any of the six Israelis killed over the past few weeks, Israel said “expelling terrorists” is necessary “to reduce the level of violence and restore calm.”

“Israel regrets the presidential statement from the Security Council, which selectively censures Israel for issuing orders to expel four terrorists, two of whom are convicted killers,” the statement said.

The four are said to be members of Al Fatah, the military arm of the Palestine Liberation Organization controlled by Yasir Arafat. The deportation order is currently under appeal, but Israeli courts have rarely overturned such orders.

The statement pointed out that on Tuesday night, as the council was drafting its statement, another Israeli was murdered as he commuted home from work.

“In spite of the latest outburst of terrorist attacks, Israel is determined to pursue the peace process and will continue policies to enhance the welfare of the inhabitants of the administered territories,” the Israeli statement said.

The non-binding statement issued by the president of the Security Council expresses grave concern over the deterioration of the “the situation in the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied by Israel since 1967, including Jerusalem.”

Israel does not consider Jerusalem, its united capital, to be part of the administered territories.

U.N. APOLOGIZES FOR OMISSION

The statement, which was read aloud in a formal meeting by this month’s Security Council president, Austrian Ambassador Peter Hohenfellner, says the deportation order is a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, “which is applicable to the above-mentioned territories.”

“The members of the Security Council also call upon Israel to desist from deporting Palestinians and to ensure the safe return of those deported,” the statement says.

The statement was virtually identical to an earlier draft proposal prepared Tuesday, but the final version deleted a paragraph in which Israel’s actions were called a barrier to peace in the region.

According to U.N. sources, the paragraph was expunged at the behest of the United States in exchange for the statement being read aloud at a formal meeting. Normally, presidential statements are issued through informal consultations, rather than in a formal meeting.

Meanwhile, Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar issued a statement Wednesday saying he regretted an omission made in the biography of Zubin Mehta, the renowned conductor, who led a concert that evening at the U.N. headquarters.

The U.N. press release on the performance omitted any reference to Mehta’s position as music director for life of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, although it did extensively document his other positions.

The U.N. press department originally blamed this omission on the Mehta biography it had received from the New York Philharmonic, where Mehta is serving in his 13th year as music director.

But a copy of the Philharmonic’s biography shows that it did list Mehta’s ties to Israel and even mentioned that he is an honorary citizen of Tel Aviv.

“The secretary-general has instructed the Department of Public Information to immediately issue a revised press release on this event,” Perez de Cuellar’s statement read.

Harris Schoenberg, director of the U.N. office for B’nai B’rith International, who raised the issue with U.N. officials, questioned whether this “omission” was an example of the U.N.’s lack of credibility concerning Israel.