Israel Rejects U.N. Vote on Deportation : Criticizes U.S. for Its Backing of Resolution in Security Council

Israel rejected a Security Council resolution challenging its plan to deport Palestinian activists, and criticized the United States for supporting the measure.

“I definitely regard (the U.S. vote) as a serious kind of deviation from the framework of our relations with the United States,” Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said today in Jerusalem.

“We are sorry about it and we will express our regret to the United States,” he told reporters.

Israel’s U.N. ambassador, Benjamin Netanyahu, said Israel will do whatever it deems necessary to maintain order in the lands it has occupied since the 1967 Six-Day War.

‘One-Sided, Partisan’

“We see no reason to abide by a one-sided, partisan and unbalanced resolution of this body,” he said of the Security Council measure.

The United States, one of Israel’s closest allies and its staunchest defender at the United Nations, joined the other 14 council members Tuesday in endorsing the resolution against the deportations in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. (Story on Page 9.)

Israel plans to deport nine Palestinians it calls ringleaders of riots that have raged in the occupied territories for nearly a month. Israeli soldiers have killed at least 24 Palestinians in the fighting.

“Frankly, we were disappointed with the American vote,” Netanyahu said after the resolution was adopted Tuesday night. “We think this was a day of hypocrisy in the United Nations.”

‘Rigged Game’ Charged

Netanyahu said the resolution will encourage “the forces behind the violence” in the occupied territories.

He accused the council of playing a “rigged game,” adding: “We’ve never had a Security Council convene to condemn the murder of a Jew. Not once.”

Netanyahu, however, praised the United States for seeing that the resolution requested rather than demanded that Israel refrain from deporting Arabs.

The U.S. mission said it was the first U.S. vote against Israel in the council in six years. The United States usually wields its veto power to defeat U.N. resolutions that are critical of the Jewish state.

Peres Cites ‘Obligation’

On Dec. 22, the United States declined to use its veto to protect Israel from a Security Council resolution condemning the crackdown.

Peres defended the deportation orders. “I think Israel did what she had to do, not in happiness but with an obligation to defend lives and security of all the residents in the territories--Jews and Arabs,” he said.

Avi Pazner, a spokesman for Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, said Israel is “disappointed” that the United States supported the resolution.

“A vote for a resolution which calls on us not to take this step can only encourage those among the extremists who are interested in continued unrest and violence,” he said today in Jerusalem.