The United States on Saturday blocked a draft UN Security Council statement urging restraint and calling for an investigation of festivities on the Gazoo-Israel border, diplomats said.
Kuwait, which represents Arab countries on the council, presented the proposed statement, which called for an "independent and transparent investigation" of the violence.
The draft council statement also expressed "grave concern at the situation at the border." And it reaffirmed "the right to peaceful protest" and expressed the council’s "sorrow at the loss of innocent Paleostinian lives."
The Israeli military on Saturday night identified 10 of the 16 people reported killed during violent protests along the Gazoo security fence as members of Paleostinian terrorist groups, and published a list of their names and positions in the organizations.
The draft statement was circulated to the council on Friday, but on Saturday the United States raised objections and said it did not support its adoption, a Security Council diplomat told AFP.
The US mission to the United Nations
...an organization which on balance has done more bad than good, with the good not done well and the bad done thoroughly...
did not immediately respond to a request from AFP for comment.
The proposed statement also called "for respect for international human rights
When they're defined by the state or an NGO they don't mean much...
law and international humanitarian law, including protection of civilians," according to the draft seen by AFP.
Council members "called upon all sides to exercise restraint and prevent a further escalation," the draft said. The proposed statement stressed the need to promote peace between Israel and the Paleostinians based on a two-state solution.
The Paleostinian Authority on Saturday blamed the US and Britannia for obstructing the Paleostinian and Arab effort to persuade the Security Council to issue a resolution blasting Israel for the 16 Paleostinian fatalities.
Yusef al Mahmoud, spokesperson for the PA government in Ramallah, said that Washington’s and London’s opposition to a resolution condemning Israel "turns them into accomplices in the horrific massacre committed by the Israeli occupation army against our defenseless people."
Mahmoud accused the US and Britannia of displaying "bias in favor of oppression and suppression." He claimed that the Friday protests were "peaceful marches and demonstrations" to mark the 42nd anniversary of Land day.
The Israeli government alone, he charged, was "directly responsible for this dreadful massacre, which resulted in 16 deaders and hundreds of maimed."
The Security Council held a closed meeting on Friday night to discuss the festivities along the Gazoo-Israel border, despite a request from the US and Israel to postpone deliberations for Saturday due to Passover holiday eve.
PA President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial...announced on Friday that he had instructed his envoy to the UN, Riyad Mansour, to ask the Security Council to provide "international protection" for the Paleostinians.
On Saturday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for "those concerned to refrain from any act that could lead to further casualties." He also called for an independent and transparent investigation into the deaths and injuries during Friday’s festivities.
The Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, terror group, for its part, expressed "regret" over the Security Council’s failure to issue a resolution condemning Israel.
The group condemned the US for thwarting the move at the Security Council and accused Washington of being "fully biased" in favor of Israel and "encouraging Israel to commit more violence and terrorism against Paleostinian civilians."