Global Policy Forum

By Christopher S. Wren

The passage of a resolution late Tuesday night demanding an immediate cease-fire in the escalating bloodshed between Israel and the Palestinians was praised today as the most significant response by the Security Council since the conflict erupted more than 17 months ago. But the resolution also represented what some diplomats and United Nations officials called a startling turnaround in how the United States handles such sensitive challenges in the Security Council. In the past, the initiative for resolutions about Israel was often taken by its critics, with the United State on the defensive having to veto resolutions deemed unfavorable.

This time, the United States surprised the Council by responding to a Syrian proposal with its own draft resolution, negotiating changes on the spot and later inserting a key phrase taken from a speech by Secretary of State Colin L. Powell that affirmed "a vision of a region where two states, Israel and Palestine, live side by side within secure and recognized borders." The resolution passed by a vote of 14 to 0, with one abstention, just before midnight. In a break with the often glacial pace of United Nations diplomacy, the American resolution was assembled in less than a day. The lone holdout, Syria, was pressured by other countries, including moderate Arabs, not to vote against the resolution, because it endorsed the prospect of a future Palestinian state.

"The struggle on all this was not between us and the Europeans and the Palestinians," a senior Bush administration official said. "We agreed. The struggle was between the Syrians and the rest of the Arabs." It was hardly coincidental that Resolution 1397, as it is officially denominated, was pressed by the United States at a time when the Bush administration's Middle East envoy, retired Marine Gen. Anthony C. Zinni, is returning to the region to try to get Israel and the Palestinians to stop fighting. Vice President Dick Cheney is also touring the Middle East to seek support from Arab allies for an offensive against Iraq. "What this really does is give international support to Zinni's mission," the senior administration official said.

Israeli and Palestinian officials today seized on different parts of the resolution that shored up their own claims. The Israeli Foreign Ministry welcomed the resolution's demand for the immediate cessation of "all acts of terror." Nabil Abu Rdainah, an aide to Yasir Arafat, the Palestinian leader, told Reuters that the resolution was important "because the whole world is behind a Palestinian state."

Secretary General Kofi Annan, speaking at a news conference here, urged "both sides and their leaders to heed the Council's demand for an immediate cessation of violence" and to resume negotiations on a political settlement. Mr. Annan said that the antagonists, left to themselves, could not resolve the issue. "We need effective third party involvement. Whether it is General Zinni or the United States doing it, or the United States in cooperation with the entire international community and the support of the Council, is irrelevant," Mr. Annan said. "The main thing is that we all put our weight behind it and get the parties to settle."

Mr. Annan may have planted the seed at his monthly luncheon with ambassadors of the Security Council member countries last week, when he told them that something must be done about the unrelenting violence. Ole Peter Kolby of Norway, who holds the Council's rotating presidency, fashioned a statement deploring the violence, but the Palestinians indicated they had no interest in just another statement, a United Nations official said. Over the weekend, Mr. Annan consulted some key aides in the region and decided to speak out more forcefully. At an open Council meeting on Tuesday, he delivered some of his harshest criticism of Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory, calling it illegal. An ambassador present said that Mr. Annan in effect challenged the Council to follow up. Mr. Annan explained today that he had become increasingly distressed by the killings on both sides. "I do not think one can watch the tragedy that we all see on our televisions and not be moved to try to do whatever you can to help the situation," he said. Mr. Annan today downplayed his choice of the word "illegal," saying that the Security Council and the General Assembly had already used it to describe Israel's occupation and some of its actions against Palestinians.

When the Council went into closed session Tuesday, Syria, speaking on behalf of Arab countries, offered a draft resolution critical of Israel. United States Ambassador John Negroponte alerted Secretary Powell, who called the national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, a United States official said. Rather than veto the Syrian resolution, the United States countered with its own more moderate text, which incorporated some phrases from the Syrian draft. The Syrians and other Council members were caught off guard. "It was so refreshing to go into a discussion on the Middle East and instead of a dead end, it was a completely new dance," a European diplomat said. "Everybody was surprised, pleasantly surprised." Another diplomat said the United States had consulted with other Arab countries, like Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. The Russian ambassador, Sergei Lavrov, sought to mediate between the rival resolutions. With deadlock setting in Tuesday evening, the Council adjourned for an hour or more.

Mr. Negroponte, after consulting again with Secretary Powell by phone, circulated a revised resolution that incorporated a phrase from a speech Secretary Powell made last November about his "vision" of Israel and the Palestinians living side by side. President Bush made a similar comment last fall in his speech to the General Assembly. "We are working toward the day when two states — Israel and Palestine — live peacefully together within secure and recognized borders," he said. The American recognition that the dividend of peace for the Palestinians would include their own state facilitated the resolution's last- minute adoption.

The Syrian ambassador, Mikhail Wehbe, complained that the language was too weak and did not take Arab concerns into account. But he stopped short of voting against the resolution. "The United States showed a real effort to try to reach consensus," the European diplomat said.

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