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PARIS, Sept 17: France said on Wednesday it deplored the US veto of the UN resolution demanding Israel drop its threat to assassinate or deport Yasser Arafat, and renewed its call for a return to calm in the Middle East.
“We deplore the negative result of the Security Council vote on the draft Arab resolution concerning the Middle East,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Cecile Pozzo di Borgo told reporters.
Pozzo di Borgo said the resolution “addressed a balanced message to both sides (Israelis and Palestinians) that was likely to result in a consensus”.
She added that the text called for an immediate and unconditional halt to “acts of violence and terrorism” between Israelis and Palestinians and a return to the discarded roadmap devised to get both sides back on the path to peace, as well as ordering the lifting of the Israeli threat to “remove” Mr Arafat.
France, “along with the overwhelming majority of countries which have issued a call for Israel to rethink its decision, reiterates this appeal”, she said.
CAIRO: Arabs said on Wednesday the United States would fuel Middle East extremism and violence with its veto of the UN resolution.
“I fear that such a veto will help foster extremism and escalate terrorism in the region,” Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh said in a speech, echoing sentiments across the Arab world.
“They are fuelling extremist feelings in this region,” said Taha Abdel Aleem, an analyst at Cairo’s Al Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies.
“By continuing such kind of politics, what happened on Sept 11 (2001) will be a very small piece of what they will face in the future,” he said.
The Security Council measure, drafted by Palestinian UN envoy Nasser al Kidwa with the support of Arab governments, demanded that “Israel, the occupying power, desist from any act of deportation and cease any threat to the safety of the elected president of the Palestinian Authority”.
Eleven Council members voted in favour of the draft while Britain, Germany and Bulgaria abstained after talks on a compromise acceptable to both Washington and Damascus failed.
The United States said the resolution was tilted in favour of Palestinians and ignored Israeli concerns.
GREEN LIGHT? Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher said Washington had to make clear to Israel the veto was not a “green light” to move against Mr Arafat.
He said the US argument “was baseless because...it calls on all parties to halt violence and calls for the need to respect international law”.
The Arab League said Arab leaders were discussing a Yemeni proposal to hold an emergency summit over Mr Arafat’s possible expulsion.
“It’s hard to say what the timeframe for a decision will be. It won’t be days, but I don’t think it will be months either,” a League spokesman said.
Some Arabs said they were not surprised by the US veto.
“Expelling Arafat was a US intention in the first place and Israel is only following US recommendations,” said Bahraini businessman Hamid Shehab.
Hassan Barari, a Jordan-based political analyst, said the veto was prompted in part by domestic political concerns.
“The Bush administration also vetoed the decision because it viewed Arafat as an obstacle to achieving success in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and thus an obstacle for scoring a foreign policy achievement ahead of elections,” he said.
But Bahraini analyst Taqi al Zeera said the US veto, far from furthering peace efforts, would hinder them.
“This veto might trigger anger amongst the Arab mass and gives a chance to the extreme parties like Al Qaeda to carry out new attacks, and this is not in the favour of peace efforts in the region,” he said. —Reuters
