Global Policy Forum

By Edith Lederer

The United States says it will veto a new U.N. Security Council resolution demanding an immediate Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian cities, an end to the siege of Yasser Arafat, and a U.N. investigation into destruction in the Jenin refugee camp.

The Palestinian U.N. observer, Nasser Al-Kidwa, demanded a vote Thursday on the Arab-backed resolution. He accused Israel of defying the council's previous orders to pull its troops and tanks out of West Bank towns and cities, including Ramallah, where Arafat is encircled. The council was to debate the draft resolution after U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan briefs members Thursday morning on his appeal for the deployment of an armed international force to Palestinian areas. Diplomats said an open council meeting was likely on Thursday afternoon.

However, a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity said Wednesday that the United States would veto the resolution. The official said Washington was suffering from "resolution fatigue" after three previous Security Council proclamations and believed there should be more action in the region rather than words in the United Nations.

Last Friday in Geneva, Annan said "the situation is so dangerous and the humanitarian and human rights situation so appalling" that an international armed force was essential to end the killing, allow humanitarian relief efforts and provide time for negotiations and diplomacy. The new resolution demands immediate implementation of the three previous resolutions and calls for "an international presence that could help provide better conditions on the ground."

Israel has said it would allow a few U.S. observers - but has vehemently opposed an international force. Frustrated at the lack of results from Secretary of State Colin Powell's Mideast peace mission and Israel's continuing military campaign, the Palestinians are again turning to the Security Council, whose resolutions are legally binding.

The council approved three resolutions in just over three weeks, the latest on April 4, outlining a blueprint for an end to more than 18 months of Israeli-Palestinian violence, a return to negotiations and a peace deal culminating in the establishment of a Palestinian state. It has demanded an immediate cease-fire and an Israeli troop withdrawal "without delay."

"We think the council has done enough," U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte said Wednesday night. With Powell just returning from the region, Negroponte said the United States needs some time to consider the next steps in trying to end the conflict.

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