UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - The United States vetoed a UN draft resolution that would have called for an end to Israeli attacks and "disproportionate use of force" in the Gaza Strip as well as for the release of a kidnapped Israeli soldier. The Security Council resolution received 10 votes, one against from the United States with four abstentions, French Ambassador Jean-Marc de la Sabliere, the council president for July, announced.Explaining his negative vote, US Ambassador John Bolton described the text as "unbalanced" and was "not only untimely but also outmoded" because of the attacks against Israel by Lebanese Hezbollah militants and UN chief Kof Annan's decision to send a crisis team to the region. He said adoption of the resolution would have exacerbated tensions in the region and would have undermined "our vision of two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security."
The United States, Israel's staunchest ally, last used its veto in the Security Council in October 2004, to block a similar draft demanding that Israel end all military operations in northern Gaza and withdraw from the area. France, a permanent member of the council, voted in favor while Britain, Denmark, Slovakia and Peru abstained.
Earlier versions of the Qatari draft had already been rejected by Western members for being "unbalanced" because they did not mention the abduction of an Israeli soldier by Palestinian militants and repeated rocket firing into Israel.
The latest version calls on Israel to "halt its military operations and its disproportionate use of force that endanger the Palestinian civilian population and to withdraw its forces to their original positions outside the Gaza Strip."
It also calls for the "immediate and unconditional" release of the abducted Israel soldier and urges Israel to immediately and unconditionally release all detained Palestinian ministers.
The Palestinian Authority is meanwhile asked "to take immediate and sustained action to bring an end to violence, including the firing of rockets on Israeli territory."