The United States abstained Monday night during a vote in the Security Council on an anti-Israel resolution. United States Ambassador Vernon Walters did not explain the reason for the abstention.
Diplomats here said the U.S. abstained in an effort to placate Arab countries which are incensed at the revelations that the U.S., in cooperation with Israel, has been selling arms to Iran, a non-Arab country which has been at war with Iraq for the last seven years.
The Arab-sponsored resolution, which received 14 affirmative votes from the 15-member Council, deplored the killing of “defenseless students” at Bir Zeit University near Ramallah in the West Bank by Israeli soldiers last week. The resolution also declared that the Geneva Convention “is applicable to the Palestinians and Arab territories occupied by Israel since 1967, including Jerusalem.”
ISRAELI DIPLOMATS UNHAPPY”
Israeli diplomats were clearly unhappy over the U.S. abstention. Israeli Ambassador Binyamin Netanyahu said in response to questions after the vote: “We are worried by the U.S. vote because some may interpret it as a sign of weakness on the part of Washington. What is needed is a reaffirmation of the traditional U.S. policy of firmness which has gained the U.S. the respect of many in the Arab word as well.”
(In Jerusalem, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres indicated Tuesday that he was not overly concerned by the U.S. action. “I regret the abstention of the U.S., but it happened for the second time over the last period. The first was when the U.S. abstained on the vote concerning the (Israeli air) raid” on the PLO headquarters in Tunisia last year.)
This year the U.S. vetoed several anti-Israel resolutions in the Security Council.
‘A DOUBLE ABSURDITY’
The Council was called into session last Friday night at the request of Zimbabwe, head of the Non-Aligned Group at the UN, to consider the unrest in the West Bank, following violent riots at Bir Zeit University.
Netanyahu charged during the debate that the Council was convened to satisfy the propaganda needs of the PLO. He accused the PLO of instigating the riots in the West Bank, Netanyahu said that the anti-Israeli resolution constituted a “double absurdity” because it ignored bloodier events in the Mideast, such as the Iran-Iraq war, and deprived Israel of applying law and order in the administered territories.
During the debate, Soviet Ambassador Alexander Belonogov charged Israel with “genocide” in connection with the events in the West Bank. Netanyahu replied that “the term genocide better describes the Soviet behavior in Afghanistan.”
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