Deseret News, Wednesday, March 13, 2002
Web Extra: U.S. backs Palestinian statehood
It helps gain approval for U.N. resolution
By Edith M. Lederer Associated Press writer
UNITED NATIONS - Seeking an end to escalating Mideast violence, the United States won approval for a U.N. Security Council resolution that endorsed the idea of a Palestinian state for the first time and demanded an immediate cease-fire.
The United States avoided references to Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territory and other terms critical of Israel, clearing the way for it to introduce the resolution Tuesday - a move that surprised the council after years of Washington blocking measures it considered biased against its close ally.
The 14-0 vote, cautiously welcomed by Israel and the Palestinians, came after Israeli forces took control of the key West Bank city of Ramallah and several Palestinian refugee camps, searching for Palestinian militants after a string of terror attacks, in Israel's biggest military operations in two decades.
Diplomats said the timing of the resolution was important, with Vice President Dick Cheney in the region and U.S. peace envoy Anthony Zinni heading there Thursday. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan issued his toughest statement yet as violence escalated Tuesday, appealing to Palestinians to halt "morally repugnant" acts of terror and urging Israelis to end their "illegal occupation" of Palestinian land.
Nasser Al-Kidwa, the Palestinian U.N. observer, called the U.S. resolution "a significant step" and said "the Palestinian side will reiterate its readiness to abide by the provisions." Israel's U.N. Ambassador Yehuda Lancry called it "a rare and remarkable" balanced resolution and said his government would like a cease-fire.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry issued a statement in Jerusalem praising the United States for inserting into the resolution a demand for the immediate cessation of "all acts of terror."
But Israeli officials insisted Palestinian statehood must be negotiated.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Arie Mekel said that although Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has publicly accepted the concept of a Palestinian state, it must be of a specified character.
"If such a state is established by agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, if it's demilitarized, if it's not a hostile base of terror and particularly if it's the end of the conflict between the Jews and Arabs once and for all, most people in Israel feel they have no problem with such a Palestinian state," Mekel said.
Acting with unusual speed, the 15-member council approved the U.S. resolution, with only Syria abstaining, criticizing the measure as "very weak" for not addressing the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land.
The United States has repeatedly opposed Security Council action, arguing that only Israel and the Palestinians can resolve the issues dividing them. U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte insisted that Tuesday's resolution didn't represent a change in U.S. policy.
The United States still believes Israel and the Palestinians have to negotiate agreements. "Our intent in doing this was to give an impulse to peace efforts and to decry violence and terror," he said.
In Egypt, Cheney, finding his Mideast tour overshadowed by rising Israeli-Palestinian violence, pledged Wednesday to work for long-term peace in the region while waging a wider war on terrorism.
"The success of liberty and the future of the civilized world now depend on us," Cheney, with the Red Sea and circling patrol boats as a backdrop, told U.S. National Guard troops stationed in Sharm El Sheik.
Cheney is on an 11-nation tour of the region to drum up support for the post-Afghanistan phase of the anti-terror war, including a tougher stance on Iraq.
But the spiraling cycle of Palestinian suicide bombings and increasingly brutal Israeli reprisals was occupying much of his attention.
Cheney came to this resort city at the tip of the Sinai Peninsula to meet with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. A day earlier, he met in Jordan with King Abdullah II, who urged a more active U.S. role in ending the Israeli-Palestinian violence.
Israeli tanks on Wednesday patrolled the deserted streets of the West Bank town of Ramallah and exchanged fire with Palestinian gunmen. A senior Palestinian officer, an Israeli soldier and an Italian photographer were killed in the fighting.
Seven Palestinians and a French journalist were wounded in other incidents. Israel said the circumstances of the shootings were not yet clear.
Al-Kidwa said it marked the first time in a long time that the United States had displayed "such a positive attitude ... toward the principle of the engagement by the council in Middle Eastern affairs."
The resolution "demands immediate cessation of all acts of violence, including all acts of terror, provocation, incitement and destruction." It calls on the Israelis and Palestinians to cooperate in implementing steps leading to a resumption of negotiations on a political settlement.
A statement added after late-night negotiations affirmed "a vision of a region where two states, Israel and Palestine, live side-by-side within secure and recognized borders," a first time for a council resolution.
President Bush endorsed the idea of a Palestinian state at the U.N. General Assembly in November, as have leaders of other nations.
Previous Security Council resolutions dealing with Mideast peace have not explicitly referred to a Palestinian state because the issue was too contentious. When it became politically acceptable in recent years, there was a stalemate in the council on Mideast resolutions.
"It's the first time the Security Council spells out the vision of two states," Al-Kidwa said. "It names Israel and Palestine, and that's obviously an important step forward."
Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo said Wednesday that "there is a need now for direct international intervention to implement this resolution through ending the Israeli occupation and evacuating all the Israeli settlements" from Palestinian lands.
Calling the current fighting the worst in a decade, Annan welcomed the U.S. decision to send Zinni back to the region and urged Sharon and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to back his efforts to renew the peace process.
"You can still lead your people away from disaster," Annan said. He also called on the Security Council "to lend its full authority and influence to the vital cause of peace."
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© 2002 Deseret News Publishing Company
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