U.S. Backs U.N. Condemnation of Israeli Action

In a new demonstration of big-power solidarity, the United States and the four other permanent members of the U.N. Security Council agreed Tuesday on a resolution condemning Israel for the use of excessive force in quelling a demonstration on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount.

The resolution, approved by the United States, the Soviet Union, Britain, France and China, includes an implied rebuff to Arab demonstrators, but it is most critical of Israeli security forces who killed 19 Palestinians on Monday.

Representatives of Arab nations met Tuesday night behind closed doors at the United Nations to decide whether to go along with the U.S. draft, which had yet to be voted on.

American officials worked feverishly behind the scenes Tuesday to shape a resolution that would prevent an open breach in the multinational alliance opposing Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait.

The U.S. government, which has often used its Security Council veto power to reject measures critical of Israel, was reluctant to do so this time for fear of alienating Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria and other Arab nations allied with Washington in the Persian Gulf.

The United States last voted against Israel in January, 1988, when the Security Council condemned Israeli plans to expel nine Palestinians.

Israel’s representative at the United Nations angrily accused the United States of abandoning principle in favor of expediency.

“I think the United States has a goal, which is to maintain this coalition which was formed against the aggression of (Iraqi President) Saddam Hussein in the gulf, and to achieve that goal they think some principles can be sacrificed,” said Johanan Bein, Israel’s acting U.N. ambassador.

Another resolution, sponsored by Colombia, Ivory Coast, Cuba, Ethiopia, Malaysia, Yemen and Zaire, deplored “the acts of violence committed by Israeli authorities” and asked the Security Council to establish a three-member commission to be dispatched immediately to study the situation in Jerusalem.

U.S. officials said Washington wanted a moderate resolution that would criticize the Israeli government but would not impose economic or political sanctions. These officials also said the United States hoped to put the incident in its broader context, noting that Palestinian demonstrators provoked the police.

A draft text, obtained from U.N. sources, contained no mention of sanctions. It said nothing about provocation, although it contained an open-ended condemnation of violence, which U.S. officials interpreted to include the acts of Palestinians who threw stones at police and Jewish worshipers at the Western Wall.

Echoing President Bush’s criticism of Israeli security forces, the draft resolution expresses deep concern that Israeli police “were ill-prepared to contain the violence and responded excessively and with deadly force.”

The draft calls on the Israeli authorities “to assure that Israeli security forces are better prepared to handle such incidents in a manner designed to avoid casualties and to exercise restraint in handling such disturbances, in accordance with their responsibilities under the Fourth Geneva Convention.”

The draft also welcomes a decision by U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar to send a mission to Israel to investigate the incident.

Late Tuesday night, consultations continued on the two resolutions. It was clear that the United States was having trouble attracting enough backers for its draft.

Zehdi Labib Terzi, the Palestine Liberation Organization’s U.N. representative, indicated that a sticking point is over whether the three-member commission should be sent--a plan rejected in advance by the Israelis--or if a Perez de Cuellar mission would be the better option. Many members of the 15-member Security Council eventually were sent home.

While the diplomats were struggling to find a formula acceptable to the big powers, a parade of Arab officials, including some from the nations most strongly supporting U.S. action against Iraq, joined in a harsh condemnation of Israel.

The opening hours of the debate before the Security Council gave Iraq its first chance since it invaded Kuwait on Aug. 2 to line up with Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria and the exiled government of Kuwait--nations that have massed troops to prevent further expansion by Iraqi President Hussein.

The debate underlined the fragility of the U.S.-led alliance in the gulf region and dramatized Washington’s need to devise a compromise that would be acceptable to moderate Arabs.

“It’s a very sensitive and difficult issue for the U.S.,” a top American diplomat said at the United Nations.

President Bush, speaking at a Washington news conference, deplored the killing of Palestinian demonstrators.

“Israeli security forces need to be better prepared for such situations, need to act with greater restraint, particularly when it comes to the use of deadly force,” the President said.

In the past, the United States has vetoed resolutions critical of Israel, although in 1981 it supported two measures condemning Israel for the bombing raid on the Osirak nuclear reactor near Baghdad and for air strikes on Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon.

In statements before the Security Council, Arab nations ranging from Iraq to Kuwait attacked Israel’s actions. Sheik Sabah al Ahmed al Sabah, foreign minister of Kuwait’s government in exile, charged that the Palestinians had taken to the streets to defend their sacred shrines “against a wave of actions by Zionist extremists.”

Saudi Arabia’s U.N. representative charged that Israel had committed a “horrible crime” and said the Security Council should issue a “judgment . . . against those who committed the crime.”

Iraq’s deputy U.N. representative, Sabah Talat Kadrat, charged that the “massacre” is a “link in a long chain of crimes” committed by Israel against the Palestinian people.

“This is because the United States, as a permanent member of the council, is exercising the right of veto to prevent the council from exercising its right to impose measures against and impose sanctions against Israel.”

Talking to reporters, Bein, the Israeli representative, accused the Arab demonstrators of staging the incident to embarrass the Jerusalem government.