The U.S. government is still trying to find a diplomatic resolution to the crisis surrounding Israel’s temporary expulsion of 415 Palestinian activists from the administered territories, despite an Israeli court ruling Thursday upholding the move and mounting pressure at the United Nations to impose sanctions against the Jewish state.
“We want to pursue this diplomatically,” State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said at his daily briefing Thursday.
“Those diplomatic efforts have to be given a chance to succeed,” he said. “We don’t think it’s time for a debate in the Security Council on sanctions.”
A vote by the U.N. Security Council on sanctions against Israel would put the Clinton administration in an awkward position on several fronts.
Since the end of the Cold War, the United States has avoided exercising its prerogative to veto Security Council resolutions, and the Clinton administration is reluctant to do so as its first major foreign policy move.
A U.S. veto would further inflame Arab countries, already upset over the deportations, and put the future of the fragile Arab-Israeli peace talks in jeopardy.
On the other hand, Washington does not want to break precedent and allow the United Nations to impose sanctions on Israel, thereby angering a close ally and its supporters in the United States.
The U.S. government does “not want sanctions against Israel,” said Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.
SENATORS CIRCULATING LETTER
While Israeli officials remain confident the United States will veto a sanctions resolution if it comes up for a vote, others would like to see the administration make an explicit commitment to do so.
On Capitol Hill, Sens. Connie Mack (R-Fla.) and Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.). were circulating a letter to Christopher urging the United States to “veto any resolution that unjustifiably condemns Israel, particularly one that does not specify and condemn the (Arab) violence that precipitated Israel’s actions.”
By Thursday evening, 58 senators had signed the letter, and more were expected to do so Friday morning.
In the House of Representatives, four members sent a private letter to Christopher on Thursday that strongly urged a U.S. veto of “any Security Council resolution imposing sanctions on Israel,” saying such a move would “encourage violence against Israel, undermine the peace process and strengthen a terrorist organization committed to Israel’s destruction.”
The letter was initiated by Rep. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and signed by Reps. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), Clay Shaw (R-Fla.) and Peter Deutsch (D-Fla.).
The American Jewish Committee sent a letter to Clinton expressing the group’s “grave concern about the possibility of further United Nations action” against Israel.
The letter urged the administration to stand by its stated view that “the best approach is to seek the resolution of the current problem through available diplomatic channels rather than any ultimately counterproductive public confrontation.”
The Conference of Presidents issued a statement on behalf of its 50 member groups urging the United States and other members of the Security Council to “reject the hypocritical anti-Israel resolution.”
Hoenlein said the Jewish community had been in “regular consultation” with the U.S. government on the issue.
Israeli officials here were also said to be in constant consultations with the U.S. administration.
On the Arab side, Lebanon’s ambassador to Washington was scheduled to meet Thursday with Edward Djerejian, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for Near East and South Asian affairs.
Meanwhile, there were unconfirmed reports that Secretary of State Christopher would accompany U.N. Ambassador Madeleine Albright to the United Nations for meetings Monday.
Although there was talk of convening the Security Council as early as Friday, Israeli officials said it was highly unlikely that consensus on a sanctions resolution could be orchestrated that quickly.
A State Department official also cast doubt on whether any substantive action would take place Monday, pointing out that the first day of the month is generally reserved for consultations by the new head of the rotating Security Council presidency.
The official added, however, that anything was possible.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
