The United States vetoed a Security Council resolution Monday night calling on Israel to abide by the Fourth Geneva Convention of August 1949, which relates to the protection of civilian persons in time of war.
The United States was the only country to vote against the resolution. The other 14 members of the council all voted in favor.
The resolution, sponsored by the Security Council’s non-aligned members, would have specifically required Israel “to accept the de jure applicability of the convention to the Palestinians and other Arab territories occupied by Israel since 1967, including Jerusalem, and fully comply with its obligations under that convention.”
The council has been meeting since last week to consider Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar’s report on the situation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The report is based on the findings of Undersecretary General Marrack Goulding, who went on a fact-finding mission to the territories and Israel last month.
The United States had indicated from the beginning of the debate that it would veto any resolution that went beyond endorsing the secretary general’s report.
The resolution also would have called on the secretary general to continue to monitor the situation in the territories and to make regular and timely reports to the council.
In another development, two prominent Palestinians, Hanna Seniora, editor of the East Jerusalem Arabic daily Al Fajr, and Fayez Abu Rahme, a Gaza lawyer, met with the secretary general Monday to discuss the situation of the Palestinians in the territories.
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