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Gaza: While the world looked elsewhere, another week of death and misery
By Donald Macintyre In Beit Hanoun
Independent

POSTED: 1921 GMT (0321 HKT), November 11, 2006

U.S. vetoes U.N. condemnation of Israel's Gaza strikes


UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- The United States vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution Saturday that would have condemned Israel for its military operations in Gaza.

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton said the resolution, which also called for Israel to cease military operations immediately in the Palestinian territory, was "biased against Israel and politically motivated."

Qatar proposed the motion, which focused on Wednesday's shelling in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun that killed 18 people, mostly women and children.

CNN

The United States vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution Saturday that would have condemned Israel for its military operations in Gaza.

And they wonder why they are hated

Arab ministers discuss Gaza veto

The attack killed 19 Palestinians, including women and children
Arab foreign ministers are holding an emergency meeting in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, to discuss the recent Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip.

They will try to agree on the next step after the US vetoed a UN Security Council resolution on Saturday which condemned Israel's military operations.

The resolution, which the US said was unbalanced, followed an Israeli attack on Wednesday which killed 19 civilians.

The Arab League warned the veto would 'increase anger' towards Israel.

Correspondents say Sunday's meeting of Arab ministers is likely to discuss whether to seek the support of the United Nations General Assembly, where the US does not have the power of veto.

'Politically motivated'

This was the second time this year the US used its veto on a draft resolution on Israeli military operations in Gaza.

Ten of the Security Council's 15 members voted in favour of the resolution, while the other four abstained.

The draft resolution - backed by Arab, Islamic and non-aligned states and formally proposed by Qatar - called for a withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip.

It also asked the UN secretary general to set up a fact-finding mission into the deaths in Beit Hanoun.

The draft urged the Palestinian Authority to act to end violence - including rockets fired at southern Israel.

The US ambassador at the UN, John Bolton, described the text as unbalanced and politically motivated.

'Green light'

An Israeli government spokesman described the veto as "very satisfactory".

"The draft resolution did not stipulate that what happened at Beit Hanoun was a tragic error," Avi Pazner told AFP news agency.

But Palestinian cabinet spokesman Ghazi Hamad of Hamas told Reuters the veto was "a signal that the US had given legitimacy to the massacres and a green light to [Israel] to ... carry out more massacres"

Arab League secretary-general, Amr Moussa, said the veto would "only increase the anger" towards Israel.

Egypt's Foreign Minister, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, accused the Security Council of "turning a blind eye to Israeli acts in Gaza."

Qatar's ambassador said the credibility of the Security Council had been called into question by the vote and the cycle of violence in the Middle East would continue.
BBC