U.N. Rebukes Israel Over Gaza Deaths

The Security Council rebuked Israel on Saturday after a clash at a Gaza Strip refugee camp left at least four Palestinians dead.

Israel criticized the unanimous but non-binding council statement, saying it didn’t note that Israeli soldiers acted in self-defense. A Palestinian diplomat said he was pleased with the statement, though he believed it had been watered down.

The Security Council statement, adopted early Saturday after hours of consultations, said its members were “gravely concerned by the continued deterioration of the situation in the Gaza Strip, especially by the current serious situation in Rafah, in which several Palestinians have been killed and many more wounded.”

On Wednesday, Israeli troops fired on a refugee camp market at Rafah in the Gaza Strip after being attacked by firebombs, U.N. officials and Arab reporters said. They said four Palestinians were killed and more than 50 wounded.

The Palestine Liberation Organization charged that at least 10 Palestinians were killed and 50 were wounded at Rafah.

The Security Council urged Israel to obey the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, which governs the treatment of people under military occupation.

The council also urged all parties to exercise restraint so as not to jeopardize the Mideast peace talks.

Statements by the council are not binding in international law, as resolutions may be. They must be adopted unanimously.

The United States, which is sponsoring the Mideast talks, worked to tone down the language of the statement but did not block the rebuke of its ally.

The Palestine Liberation Organization’s U.N. representative, M. Nasser Kidwa, said he hoped the Security Council statement would have an impact on the behavior of Israeli troops.

But he also said: “We were hoping for a stronger wording by the council. Unfortunately, a member state exerted a lot of pressure on the other members.”

Israel’s U.N. Mission complained that the Security Council failed to note that the Israeli troops “were attacked with a grenade and Molotov cocktails and were compelled to act in self-defense.”

It also said that Israel has been subjected to “a wave of deadly terrorist attacks” at home and abroad that have killed 17 Israelis and wounded more than 250 since the peace talks began in Madrid in October.

The latest deaths raised to 910 the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli soldiers or civilians in the uprising that began in December, 1987. An additional 548 Palestinians have been killed by fellow Arabs on suspicion of collaboration, and 87 Israelis also have died.