The United States tonight vetoed a United Nations Security Council Resolution condemning the IDF ‘massacre’ at Beit Hanoun - an incident last wednesday that killed 19 Palestinians, calling for Israel to immediately withdraw all forces from the Gaza Strip and for UN observers to be deployed in the area.
The resolution, proposed by Qatar, called for an “immediate investigation into the massacre that took place in Beit Hanoun” and for Israel to “cease all violence against the civilian population in the occupied territories, including East Jerusalem.” In a last-minute effort to avoid a US-veto, Qatar changed some of the language in the resolution - including dropping the word ‘massacre’.
US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton called the resolution “biased against Israel and politically motivated”. He told the Security Council that “this resolution does not display an evenhanded characterization of the recent events in Gaza, nor does it advance the cause of Israeli-Palestinian peace to which we aspire and for which we are working assiduously.” The resolution, for example, does not mention the release of Israeli Corporal Gilad Shalit, who was kidnapped from his army post four-and-a-half months ago in a Hamas-led operation.
The resolution also implies the incident is a stand-alone event, caused by the Israeli army presence in Gaza. It fails to mention that the Beit Hanoun shelling was a direct response to a constant stream of Qassam rockets being fired into the Israeli town of Sderot. IDF sources maintain the attack was aimed at nearby Qassam rockets and Grad launchers but that a failure in the artillery battery’s guidance system allowed seven shells to veer off target and hit houses on the outskirts of Beit Hanoun. The Israeli government nevertheless ordered an immediate halt in artillery attacks and called for an urgent inquiry into the incident.
After all these years I still don’t fully understand how it works. A Palestinian terrorist attack that kill dozens of innocent civilians on purpose can be shrugged off by a Palestinian spokesman ‘condemning’ the attack in English while praising it in Arabic, and the media highlight how the attack was caused by Israeli oppression policies and how the poor Palestinians have no other choice but to blow themselves up in a crowded bus/mall/club/diner/whatever. But when Israel shells rocket launchers in self-defense with a few of those shells accidentally, if tragically, hitting Palestinian homes, it’s suddenly a “massacre” and merits a UNSC-Resolution. Even after the Israeli Prime minister apologizes, calls a halt to artillery strikes and promises an immedite inquiry. Did I get it right?
A spokesman of the Palestinian cabinet called the veto “a signal that the US has given legitimacy to the massacres and a green light to Israel to carry out more massacres” while the Arab League was “surprised and disappointed” with the US Veto. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the resolution would have “aggravated the situation in Gaza”. For once, Condoleezza, I fully agree.
Argentina, China, Congo, France, Ghana, Greece, Peru, Qatar, Russia and Tanzania voted in favour of the resolution while Britain, Denmark, Japan and Slovakia abstained and only the United States voted against.
- Tags:beit hanoun, bolton, gaza, hamas, israel, palestinians, resolution, rice united nations
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