OCCUPIED TERRITORIES

Spiegel: Arafat vom US-Veto unbeeindruckt

Pal?stinenser-Pr?sident Jassir Arafat nimmt das Scheitern der zu seinem Schutz eingebrachten Uno-Resolution ziemlich laessig. "Wir sind wichtiger als irgendeine Resolution", sagte er vor Intellektuellen und Kuenstlern in seinem Hauptquartier in Ramallah.

Independent: America vetoes UN resolution urging Israeli restraint
The United States vetoed a United Nations resolution last night that demanded Israel refrain from deporting the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, from the West Bank.

The text, tabled by Syria, was backed by 11 members of the Security Council. The US was alone in opposing it, complaining that it failed to condemn Palestinian terror groups that have committed bombings in Israel. Three countries abstained from the vote ­ Britain, Bulgaria and Germany.

After the vote, the US ambassador, John Negroponte, said that Washington did not support the new Israeli stance. However, he said that he had blocked the resolution because it failed to name groups such as Hamas and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, which has claimed credit for numerous suicide bombings. He said: "The Palestinian Authority must take action to remove the threat of terrorist groups."

Fayssal Mekdad, the Syrian ambassador to the UN who had been pressing for a resolution to protest against Israel's policy since last week, decried the outcome. He said that the text had been "highly balanced", saying most of the language came from previous resolutions that had been adopted by the council.

"The fact that the US delegation used its veto is something extremely regrettable," he said. "It only complicates a situation in the Middle East that is already very complicated."

"Bravo USA. Leider funktioniert die UNO in ihrer heutigen Form nicht."