The United States last night vetoed a Jordanian-sponsored resolution in the Security Council which called for considering “effective measures” against Israel for extending its civil law to the Golan Heights last month. The vote was 9-1 with five abstentions. The abstentions were cast by Britain, France, Ireland, Japan and Panama.
Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick of the United States, speaking just before the vote, called the resolution “an aberration, even a perversion” of the purpose which the Council was called on by the UN Charter to fulfill. Its role, she noted, was supposed to be a constructive one. “This resolution, we believe, would do the opposite,” Kirkpatrick said. “Far from preventing aggravation, it would become a source of aggravation.”
OPERATIVE PASSAGE OF THE RESOLUTION
The major operative passage of the resolution stated: “The Security Council decides that all member states should consider applying concrete and effective measures in order to nullify the Israeli annexation of the Golan Heights and to refrain from providing any assistance or aid to and cooperation with Israel in all fields, in order to deter Israel in its policies and practices of annexation.”
The resolution differed sharply from the original draft in that if did not call for the imposition of military, economic and diplomatic sanctions against Israel.
The vote on the original draft, also submitted by Jordan, the only Arab country presently on the Security Council, was withheld last Friday when it became apparent that the extreme anti-Israel resolution would not receive the minimum nine votes needed for adoption by the 15-member Security Council. Panama and Zaire balked, leaving it two votes short.
The Security Council demanded on December 17 that Israel rescind its decision, taken by the Knesset on December 14, to apply Israeli law and jurisdiction to the Golan Heights, captured from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War. It gave Israel until January 5 to comply. Israel ignored the resolution and the Security Council reconvened on January 6 to consider further action.
CITES ‘FLOODTIDE OF INVECTIVE’
Mrs. Kirkpatrick told the Council Wednesday that “a floodtide of invective has flowed through this hall, threatening day after day to overwhelm the spirit of reason and compromise with haired and cynicism.” She declared that “we do not approve of Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights. Indeed, we do not even believe such annexation has occurred. We believe we should get on with negotiations which will demonstrate the fact.”
The envoy called for the implementation of Council Resolutions 242 and 338 as well as last month’s resolution calling on Israel to rescind its Golan action. She also said that amid so much talk of aggression and repression there had been no mention of the violation of the rights of the people of Poland.
“We should like on this occasion to express our solidarity with the people of Poland as well as with those of the Golan, and to affirm the commitment of my government to work for the rights of all people currently denied freedom, self-determination and self-government,” Mrs. Kirkpatrick said.
Ambassador Yehuda Blum of Israel appealed to Syria “to abandon the path of confrontation and hatred” and accept Israel’s offer for unconditional negotiations on all the issues between them.
Ambassador Dia-Allah el-Fattal of Syria denounced the American veto as an “abuse of veto power aimed at aggravating the situation” in the Mideast. The U.S. is “protecting the aggressors against its victims,” he claimed.
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.
