US opposes anti-Israel resolution at UN Tovah Lazaroff October 5, 2004 The Jerusalem Post – HYPERLINK http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1096959294962&p=1078113566627 http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1096959294962&p=1078113566627 Do not appease terrorism by condemning Israel's military operations in Gaza, Ambassador to the United Nation Dan Gillerman told Security Council members Monday as he urged them not to support an anti-Israel resolution put forward by the Arab League. Backing Israel, US Ambassador John Danforth told the council that the resolution was one sided. What the Security Council should say, if it says anything, should be said to both sides, he said. Facing stiff American opposition, the Palestinians are looking for a vote on the matter today hoping to halt the military operation that has killed at least 68 Palestinians, including many gunmen. Nine Palestinians died Monday in northern Gaza from the operation, including four gunmen and a 14-year-old girl who was baking bread with her mother. Israel launched the offensive Wednesday to stop the firing of Kassam rockets on its citizens, after a rocket attack on Sderot killed two young children. It is the deadliest Israeli military incursion into Gaza in more than four years. Nasser Al-Kidwa, the Palestinians' UN representative, said many Security Council members indicated agreement with the text. The draft resolution expresses grave concern at the continued deterioration of the situation on the ground in Palestinian territories. It also condemns the broad military incursion and attacks by the Israeli occupying forces ... including in and around the Jebalya refugee camp, resulting in extensive human casualties and destruction and exacerbating the dire humanitarian situation. British Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry, whose country is president of the council this month, said there's a strong support in the council for the resolution. But he said he could not speak for Washington. US Ambassador John Danforth said Monday another Security Council resolution was not the answer and admonished the council, which he said acts as the adversary of the Israelis and cheerleader to the Palestinians. The United States in the past has vetoed similar resolutions, saying they failed to criticize Palestinian attacks while concentrating just on Israel's responses. In sharp remarks, Danforth did not speak of a veto, but said he was displeased with the tone of the debate and the Arab resolution. Many speakers today have spoken about the cycle of violence and that is exactly what it is. One side acts, the other side reacts, then more reaction and more violence. And round and round it goes, Danforth said. And unfortunately the United Nations, both the General Assembly and the Security Council, instead of saying stop it to both sides, acts as the adversary of Israel and the cheerleader of the Palestinians. That is not the way to peace. That is not the roadmap to peace. Gillerman told the council on Monday, that 460 Kassam rockets have been fired indiscriminately at innocent civilians as they lie in their beds, sit in their living rooms or take their children to school, said Gillerman. Hamas is looking to escalate this campaign with ever more sophisticated weapons that could reach as far as Ashkelon, Gillerman said. The PA has done nothing to stop these rockets, he added. The firing of Kassam rockets and the continuation of terrorism is an attempt thwart the disengagement plan and to perpetuate terrorism and violence as a strategic tool, said Gillerman. This Council should not allow that strategy to be rewarded by addressing the response to terrorism, instead of the terrorism itself. It must be rejected, not appeased, said Gillerman. Rocket attacks from Gaza constitute a grave violation of international humanitarian law, not only because they target innocent Israeli civilians but also because as a result Palestinian residents' lives are also put at risk and held hostage. Most of the rockets are fired from residential areas, he added. While the present operation is broader than its predecessors, it is relatively limited, with the aim of refraining from deeply penetrating densely populated areas. In this context, and faced with a brutal Palestinian strategy that seeks to maximize civilian casualties on both sides, Israeli forces are making every effort to avoid to avoid harming non-combatants or their property in accordance with their legal obligation, said Gillerman. Israel is compelled to act in accordance with its recognized right and duty of self-defense in an effort to stop the firing of Kassam rockets at its citizens, said Gillerman. Al-Kidwa scoffed at Israel's assertion that the military operation was a justified response to the firing of two Palestinian rockets from Gaza that killed two children in the southern Israeli city of Sderot on Wednesday. He told the council that Israeli reacted to an attack by a rudimentary rocket by sending 2,000 troops, 100 tanks, more than 100 other armored vehicles and bulldozers and helicopter gunships into the strip, focusing on the Jabalya refugee camp. These forces deliberately destroyed just about everything in their way, including nurseries and grammar schools, Al-Kidwa said. Now there are hundreds of Palestinians without shelter as a result of that total demolition or partial demolition of their homes, tens of thousands without water or electricity and suffering from severe shortages of food and medicine, precipitating a genuine humanitarian tragedy, he said. There is absolutely no justification for this Israeli hysteria, this widespread killing ... there is no justification for this state terrorism, Al-Kidwa said. Gillerman said that if Palestinians would stop firing rockets, there would be no need for Israel to take defensive actions. He also spoke also of attempts by terrorist to use UN humanitarian infrastructure for violent means. This worrying pattern of activity is a matter of grave concern that threatens to seriously undermine the integrity of UN operations, said Gillerman.