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Middle East
UN split on Israeli attack on Syria
2003-10-06
And just what were you expecting?
Despite Syrian demands for immediate condemnation of an Israeli air strike near Damascus, the UN security council adjourned last night without a vote. The meeting broke up after the US objected that the Syrian resolution failed to condemn Palestinian terrorism.
"Um, yeah, Microsoft Word (Arabic edition) doesn’t have the right words for that in the thesaurus."
At an emergency meeting called at Syria’s request yesterday, most security council diplomats spoke out against the Israeli attack on a purported terrorist training camp near the Syrian capital. The diplomats also condemned the suicide bombing in the Israeli port city of Haifa that killed 19 people and prompted Israel’s retaliation. Syrian ambassador Fayssal Mekdad, the council’s only lying Arab member, urged his colleagues to adopt the resolution condemning the "military aggression carried [out] by Israel against the sovereignty and territory" of Syria. The document also demands that Israel stop acts "which might lead to a dangerous deterioration that threatens regional and international peace and security."
"As opposed to Syrian acts which threaten regional and international peace and security."
However, the US ambassador to the UN, John Negroponte, focused his condemnation on the Haifa attack, while blaming Syria for harbouring terrorists. "The United States believes that Syria is on the wrong side of the war on terrorism," he said. "We believe it is in Syria’s interest, and in the broader interest of Middle East peace, for Syria to stop harbouring and supporting the groups that perpetrate acts such as the one that occurred yesterday" in Haifa.
At which point Fayssal called out to his aide, Fatimah, for his pills.
Yesterday’s attack was the first Israeli strike deep within Syria since the 1973 Yom Kippur war, and it alarmed other Middle Eastern nations. The Arab League said the bombing "exposes the deteriorating situation in the region to uncontrollable consequences, which could drag the whole region into violent whirlpool."
And it also demonstrates the reach of the Israeli Air Force. That’s got to worry them.
Mr Negroponte indicated that the US broadly opposed the text of a draft resolution submitted by Syria and questioned why it made no mention of the Haifa attack. "It’s just incredible to me that in the wake of an event like that, that a draft resolution coming from a delegation of the council would have no reference whatsoever to this dastardly act," he told reporters after the session. "Another resolution on the Middle East is not what is needed." Mr Negroponte, the 15-member council’s president for October, has not scheduled another meeting to discuss the Syrian draft, saying diplomats needed time to consult with their governments.
"Actually, we think the time could be better spent drinking beer..."
The US has regularly used its veto to block resolutions condemning Israel, its close ally. The US position is that resolutions must roundly condemn all forms of terrorism. Mr Negroponte did not say whether the US would exercise the veto power it wields as one of five permanent members. Another diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said discussions were continuing and no one had threatened a veto. The Israeli ambassador, Dan Gillerman, however, defended the air strike as "an act of self-defence" within the law. "Syrian complicity and responsibility for suicide bombings is as blatant as it is repugnant," he said. "For Syria to ask a debate in this council is comparable only to the Taliban calling for such a debate after 9/11."
I think that's a misquote. I heard it on the teevee live (and subsequently on tape) and he said it would be akin to Osama bin Laden having called for a security council meeting after 9-11...
Mr Gillerman also expressed anger that the meeting was called just before the holiest Jewish holiday, Yom Kippur, and left the council after his speech to observe the holiday. Israel is not a security council member. French ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere called the airstrike "an unacceptable violation of international law."
Well, it’s not as if the French would do anything about it.
Anybody got an example of an acceptable violation of international law?
Russian ambassador Sergey Lavrov said it "might lead to more dramatic and tragic consequences, both for the very tense situation in the region, as well as for the international state of security as a whole."
Maybe it's time to cut the Gordian knot...
The British ambassador, Emyr Jones Parry, called the air strike "unacceptable," but also sounded a more sympathetic note. "We have to recognise that terrorists are continuing to attack Israel and are being permitted to do so," he said. Still, "Israel should not allow its justified anger at continuing terrorism to lead to actions that undermine both the peace process and we believe Israel’s own interests." Pakistan’s ambassador Munir Akram urged the council "to speedily adopt the decision to condemn this military aggression and to uphold the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic."
After which he muttered something about having done his duty and left the Syrians to them own problems.
Posted by:Steve White

#4  No! Go for the kill, Negroponte! Show them for the biased A-holes that they really are! Although, for the French, this will just give them more time to screw up....
Posted by: Charles   2003-10-6 1:26:08 PM  

#3  Mr Negroponte, the 15-member council’s president for October, has not scheduled another meeting to discuss the Syrian draft, saying diplomats needed time to consult with their governments.

AH HAHAHAHAHA!

Damned bureaucrats. ;>

Nice timing on the IAF's part, it seems...
Posted by: mojo   2003-10-6 12:32:08 PM  

#2  The document also demands that Israel stop acts "which might lead to a dangerous deterioration that threatens regional and international peace and security."

In other words, "You have no right to live!"

When's that Rutgers Kill-the-Jews-fest, BTW?
Posted by: Atrus   2003-10-6 12:29:40 PM  

#1  "We demand that the Israelis quit exposing our air defenses as worse than useless"

wonder how many heads rolled in Damascus? Bet it was more than one...heh heh
Posted by: Frank G   2003-10-6 11:59:30 AM  

00:00