The United States abstained Thursday on a Security Council resolution calling on Israel “to ensure the safe and immediate return” of four Palestinians it expelled Wednesday from the West Bank and to “desist” from further deportations of Palestinian civilians.
The resolution, adopted by a vote of 14-0, was the third anti-Israel resolution passed by the Security Council in less than a month and the second in which the United States abstained.
The United States voted in favor of a resolution on Jan. 5 demanding that Israel rescind deportation orders it had issued on Jan. 3 against nine Palestinian activists from the West Bank and Gaza Strip. It abstained from voting on a Dec. 22 resolution that condemned Israel for the measures it was taking to subdue rioters in the territories.
The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Vernon Walters, criticized the Security Council’s preoccupation with the situation in the territories. In a brief statement after the vote Thursday, he said the United States abstained, because it believes that the continued Security Council meetings on the subject do not assist in bringing tranquility to the area.
Walters stressed that the United States has made it clear that it is opposed to deportations and that it “deeply regrets” the expulsion Wednesday of the four Palestinians. But the U.S. envoy noted that the four had declined to use their right of appeal to Israel’s Supreme Court against the deportation orders.
He declared that the Security Council’s “selective attention” to the unrest in the territories will not restore peace and quiet to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking before the vote, said Israel would not accept the resolution.
Afterward, he expressed “appreciation” for the U.S. abstention. Noting U.S. support for the Jan. 5 resolution, he said, “We are pleased that the American vote is now shifting in the other direction.”
OPERATIVE PARAGRAPHS
The resolution was sponsored by Algeria, Argentina, Nepal, Senegal, Yugoslavia and Zambia. Its operative paragraphs stated:
“The Security Council (1) calls upon Israel to rescind the order to deport Palestinian civilians and to ensure the safe and immediate return to the occupied Palestinian territories of those already deported; (2) requests that Israel desist froth with from deportation of any other Palestinian civilians from the occupied territories; (3) decides to keep the situation in the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied by Israel since 1967, including Jerusalem, under review.”
The Security Council also reaffirmed its resolution of Jan. 5 and expressed “deep regret that Israel, the occupying power, has, in defiance of that resolution, deported Palestinian civilians.”
Netanyahu, in his statement before the vote, denounced the resolution as grossly one-sided. He said it contained not one word about Palestinian violence against Israeli Jews and Israeli Arabs. He said it lacks even “an appeal for restraint on all sides.”
Netanyahu declared that the anti-Israel resolution would only contribute to inflaming passions and increasing violence in the territories.
By expelling the four Palestinians, Israel acted “as our right under international law to secure law and order in the territories,” the Israeli envoy said. He accused the Security Council of condoning acts of violence against Israel and of condemning Israel’s countermeasures. “In face of violence, it pushes peace further away,” he said.
He added, “Even if we threw rose petals at the stone-throwers, Israel would be condemned by the Security Council.”
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