October 16, 2003	Thursday	Sha'aban 19, 1424

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UNITED NATIONS, Oct 15: The United States on Tuesday vetoed a UN Security Council resolution condemning the security barrier Israel is building across the Palestinian territory in the West Bank.

After the US killed the resolution with its lone negative vote for the second time in two months blocking a measure criticising Israel, Palestinians promised to seek a UN General Assembly vote on a resolution condemning Israel for building the massive security fence cutting across their territory.

Chief Palestinian UN observer, Nasser Al-Kidwa, lamented the American decision and said there could be no Mideast peace process so long as Israel continues building the barrier.

“The continuation of the construction of this wall will virtually end the two-state solution and the potential for peace in the region,” Mr Kidwa said. “It is that important.”

Mr Kidwa said the Palestinians would seek an emergency session of the General Assembly to introduce a similar resolution. Its adoption was certain as there were no vetoes in the 191-member body.

The request for Security Council action came a week after the Israeli cabinet approved an extension of the barrier that would sweep around Jewish settlements deep in the West Bank.

The vote on the resolution came late in the evening after a debate in which most of the 40 nations condemned Israel for building the barrier terming it a grab for land.

Most countries portrayed it as racist and colonialist, and an over-reaction that would turn some parts of the Palestinian territories into “open-air prisons.”

US Ambassador John Negroponte said the resolution was “unbalanced” and “did not further the goals of peace and security in the region.”

The American officials maintained that they had suggested additions to the document to call on all parties in the Middle East struggle to dismantle terrorist groups. But Palestinians and Syria, which had introduced the draft, rejected the changes and went ahead with the vote anyway.

Syria’s UN Ambassador Fayssal Mekdad, the only Arab nation on the 15-member council, introduced the draft resolution Thursday on behalf of the 22-member Arab League. After the vote, Mekdad said the US veto damaged Washington’s role in efforts toward a lasting Mideast peace.

“To be very frank, the image of the United States as a superpower, as a co-sponsor of the peace process, will definitely suffer,” Mekdad said.

AFP adds: Ten nations on the 15-member council voted in favour while four — Britain, Bulgaria, Cameroon and Germany — abstained.

German ambassador Gunter Pleuger said his nation had abstained out of fears that the split in the quartet — with Europeans divided, Russia in favour and the United States opposed — was a danger to the peace process.

“That’s not good for the credibility and the effectiveness of the quartet,” he said.