The United States is negotiating with the Arab countries “to let them know what’s acceptable” in a Security Council draft resolution critical of Israel’s handling of violence in the administered territories, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Vernon Walters, reported Thursday.
Walters indicated that the United States will not decide how it will vote until the resolution is completed. He said, however, that the current proposals contain “some negative elements.” He declined to provide details.
The Security Council has scheduled for Thursday night its fifth debate since last Friday on the Gaza and West Bank violence, in which Palestinian civilians are battling Israeli riot police and troops. About 15 countries have registered to speak at the debate, which led observers here to believe that the resolution will not be up for a vote until Friday at least.
On Wednesday night, Israeli U.N. Ambassador Benjamin Netanyahu presented Israel’s case for the first time before the Security Council debate. He charged the Palestine Liberation Organization with inciting the violence that has inflamed the Israeli-administered territories this past week.
The Israeli envoy said the PLO preferred violence to a peaceful resolution of the Palestinian situation. He stressed that the Israel Defense Force was under strict orders to avoid or minimize the loss of life.
He contended further that Israel’s duty is to quell violence and maintain order in the territories.
Netanyahu spoke after three consecutive meetings during which Arab envoys, without exception, blasted Israel and demanded that the Security Council impose sanctions against Israel and require withdrawal from the territories it occupied in 1967.
Netanyahu focused his counterattack on the PLO. He claimed it wants “to bring about the loss of life, not only of Israelis but also, indeed especially, of young Arabs.”
“This violence,” Netanyahu continued, “would then be used to convene the Security Council for the purpose of conducting the usual tirades against Israel and ‘the Israeli occupation.’ The actual convening of the council is then further used, as (PLO chief Yasir) Arafat himself has exhorted, to draw out the violence as long as possible.”
He maintained that the action taken by Israel to quell the demonstrations are in accordance with international treaties. He noted that if one accepts the Arab description of Israel as an occupier, then Israel, under the Geneva Convention, “has the right, indeed the obligation, to maintain the orderly government of the territory and to ensure the security of its forces.”
He said “the Geneva Convention fully supports the point we have been making all along: namely, that the first responsibility of any government, military or civilian, is to maintain law and order.”
However, the envoy stressed, to maintain law and order in face of incitement is not an easy task. “Our soldiers are under strict instructions,” he said. “…Live ammunition is to be used only as a last resort, when their lives are threatened or when they have already been injured.”
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