Saturday, December 21, 2002

…the defeated measure demanded that Israel, "as the occupying power," comply with its obligations under the Fourth Geneva Convention concerning the protection of civilians in wartime.


U.S. Vetoes Condemnation of Israel for U.N. Deaths
The United States, "with regret," cast its veto tonight against a Syrian-proposed Security Council resolution that condemned Israel for the recent killings of several United Nations employees and the destruction of a United Nations food warehouse.

The vote was a sour note at the end of a day when President Bush met in Washington with members of the international mediating group known as the Quartet to reaffirm the American commitment to a Middle East peace based on a Palestinian state.

The central passage in the defeated measure demanded that Israel, "as the occupying power," comply with its obligations under the Fourth Geneva Convention concerning the protection of civilians in wartime.

"No one could have thought that it could have been voted down or vetoed, although we know that the U.S. is biased toward Israel," said Nasser Al-Kidwa, the Palestinian permanent oberver to the United Nations. "It seems that this bias knows no limits, even if this has to be at the expense of international humanitarian law and the lives of those who work in the international humanitarian fields."

Israeli soldiers shot and killed a United Nations refugee worker, Iain Hook of Britain, during a battle with Palestinian gunmen in the West Bank on Nov. 22.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/21/international/middleeast/21SYRI.html

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