U.N. Weighs In On Middle East

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.

Both sides are welcoming the resolution, while an investigator blames both sides for human rights abuses.

Israel praised the Security Council's call for a halt to terrorism and a cease-fire; the Palestinians welcomed a reference to a Palestinian state.

The human rights investigator said Israel's military occupation was the root cause of the problem.

"International humanitarian law and human rights norms have been seriously violated in the present conflict by both parties," special rapporteur John Dugard said in a report to the Geneva-based U.N. Commission on Human Rights.

In the report, which will be debated by the annual six-week session of the commission starting Monday, the South African official called for an international presence — either monitors or peacekeepers — to be deployed to contain the violence.

He pointed to targeted killings of Palestinians by Israeli forces, Palestinian suicide bombings in Israel, the demolition of homes in Palestinian areas by the Israeli army and the "indiscriminate killing of civilians by both sides."

The resolution, the first the United States has introduced since the latest bloodshed began in September 2000, was approved by 14 of the 15 council members. Syria abstained.

Speaking on behalf of Arab nations, Syria's U.N. Ambassador Mikhail Wehbe said he abstained because the resolution was "very weak" and didn't deal with the roots of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, "the question of the Israeli occupation."

Syria abstained, rather that voting against the resolution, "to send a message" and not break the unity of the council, Wehbe said.

U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte countered that it was "a strong resolution on the Middle East," capturing a broad consensus on the goals and next steps in the peace process and speaking out strongly against terrorism.

"Our intent in doing this was to give an impulse to peace efforts and to decry violence and terror," he said after the vote.

Wednesday, Israel praised the resolution's call for an end to violence and terror.

"We are very interested in a cease-fire," said Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Arieh Mekel, adding that Israel would accept a Palestinian state if it is demilitarized and lives in peace with its neighbors.

The Palestinians Wednesday warned there's no chance of a cease-fire while Israel is occupying Palestinian areas.

Nasser Al-Kidwa, the Palestinian U.N. observer, after the vote called the resolution important and welcomed the council's first reference to two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side. Even though the Palestinians didn't support everything in the U.S. text, he indicated if he had a vote he would have approved it.

U.S. diplomats said the idea of separate Palestinian and Israeli states was voiced by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell in a speech on Nov. 19 in Louisville, Kentucky, and has been echoed by U.S. President George Bush.

For once, Israel's U.N. Ambassador Yehuda Lancry said he could welcome a "balanced" Security Council resolution on the Mideast, which he called "a rare and remarkable" occurrence.

Earlier, Syria had introduced a Palestinian-backed draft resolution that referred to Israel as "the occupying power" and called for it to abide by the Fourth Geneva Convention, which governs the protection of civilians during occupation. Israel claims the land is disputed, not occupied, and maintains the convention does not apply.

Both the U.S. and Syrian drafts called for an immediate cessation of violence and a resumption of negotiations. Neither mentioned outside observers to help calm the situation, which Israel opposes.

The United States, Israel's closest council ally, dropped the reference to Israeli occupation and the Geneva convention in its draft. It added a demand for the immediate cessation of "all acts of terror," a welcome for Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah's peace initiative, and encouragement for diplomatic efforts by U.S. Anthony Zinni and others.

In last minute negotiations, it added a sentence "affirming a vision of a region where two states, Israel and Palestine, live side-by-side within secure and recognized borders."

Since renewed Mideast violence erupted a year-and-a-half ago, the United States has thwarted every effort by the Palestinians to get the Security Council to adopt a resolution that would condemn Israeli actions and create some kind of outside monitoring to help cool tensions.

The United States abstained in the only council resolution that was approved. In October 2000, council members condemned the "excessive use of force" against Palestinians and backed an objective investigation into the violence.

The Security Council early Tuesday listened to Secretary-General Kofi Annan deliver his toughest statement on the Middle East.

He urged Palestinians to halt "morally repugnant" acts of terror and suicide bombings and Israelis to end their "illegal occupation" of Palestinian territory and stop using excessive force.

Calling the current fighting the worst in a decade, Annan welcomed the U.S. decision to send its envoy Anthony Zinni back to the region and urged Israeli Prime Minister Ariel 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, noting that in the last 10 days, over 150 Palestinians and about 50 Israelis have died.

He also called on the Security Council "to lend its full authority and influence to the vital cause of peace."

U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said he believed it was the first time that Annan had called Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory "illegal."

Lancry said it was "not a new development," noting that Sharon has envisioned a Palestinian state and Israel entered a process in 1993 to end its occupation. But he stressed "we have to negotiate it."

Al-Kidwa didn't think Annan was striking a harder stance. But he said it was "indicative that the whole world is getting...increasingly nervous about the situation and...wants to see an end to this occupation."