The United Nations Security Council resolution yesterday condemning Israel for its actions in Jerusalem was roundly rejected in an official statement issued by the Foreign Ministry here today. “Debates of this kind will not determine the future of Jerusalem, the statement said.
There was no explicit reference to the U.S. having abstained rather than costing a veto as some Israelis had hoped. Officials said Israel’s disappointment over this would be conveyed to Washington through diplomatic channels.
Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, Yehuda Blum, returning for home leave today, said he had not been surprised by America’s failure to use its veto. That had been his prognostication all along, he said, explaining that the U.S. nowadays was constantly concerned not to be too isolated within the UN on the Mideastern issue.
Blum said the Knesset’s Legal Committee’s decision yesterday to approved bill affirming Jerusalem’s status as Israel’s capital had “certainly not helped” matters at the Security Council. But the Knesset is sovereign and its committee had doubtless taken all factors into consideration, Blum said.
Acting Premier Yigael Yadin expressed “sorrow” at the U.S. failure to veto the resolution. The Foreign Ministry’s statement, drafted, it is understood, by Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir and his aides, declared that “Israel rejects this resolution and does not accept its principles. The resolution links with a long series of condemnations… whose essence is a hostile attitude which entirely ignores the realities of the area and the rights of Israel. The resolution will raise difficulties in the way of the peace process, which Israel is laboring to nurture.
“The future of Jerusalem will not be determined by debates of this kind. United Jerusalem was is and will be sovereign Israel’s capital city and will not be redivided, ” the statement said. It added that “the Israel government will continue to ensure free access to all the holy places and freedom of worship for all faiths and creeds, as it has done ever since the city was united under its rule.”
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