MIDDLE EAST

Rense: The Fallacy Of Even-Handedness By Terrell E. Arnold The writer is a retired Senior Foreign Service Officer of the US Department of State

On May 19, the United States representative, James Cunningham, abstained from voting on a UN Security Council resolution that demanded the Israelis halt demolitions of Palestinian homes, mainly in the Rafah refugee camp in Gaza. Although the Israelis have destroyed more than 200 homes and rendered more than two thousand people homeless, in the process infuriating most of the world community, the US vote was typically at odds with world opinion, but it was sort of progress. For the second time in less than two years, the US representative abstained on a resolution critical of Israel and that permitted the resolutions, in both instances, to go into effect. Had the US used its veto, which it has done 38 times since 1972 regarding UN actions critical of Israel, the resolutions would have failed.

If it were to last, this US position in the Security Council would be significant, because the United States appears to have moved, at least for now, from refusing to allow UN criticism of Israel to refusing to block UN criticism of Israel. However, the US delegation to the UN has yet to take a flat out stand against anything the Israelis do, even though the US is often critical of the Palestinians.