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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: steve harris who wrote (191821)	7/16/2006 9:29:18 PM
From: sylvester80	Respond to of 281500

NEWS: U.N. vote against Israel bodes ill against the U.S. too Richard Benedetto July 16, 2006 WASHINGTON — Why is it that the United Nations Security Council can act with lightning speed when it comes to rebuking Israel for its incursions into the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, but move painfully slow in agreeing on language responding to the pursuit of nuclear weapons by Iran and North Korea? We saw an example of lightning speed when the council on Thursday brought to a vote a resolution that would have condemned Israel for using “disproportionate force” in responding to the kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers and subsequent rocket attacks on its territory by terrorist forces in Lebanon. The strongly worded resolution said that the Israeli military actions endangered the lives of Palestinian civilians and demanded the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza. The Arab-backed measure failed when the United States used its veto to block it. The vote was 10-1, with four abstentions — Britain, Peru, Denmark and Slovenia. However, Russia and China, two key allies, and at the same time, two key stumbling blocks in the effort to come up with a resolution dealing with Iran and North Korea’s nuclear ambitions, voted for it. President Bush, in Germany on Thursday, refused to rebuke Israel for its military action, saying that the Jewish state “has a right to defend herself.” At the same time, he cautioned that Israel’s attacks in Lebanon should proceed carefully so that the fledgling government there is not weakened as it tries to get on its feet and out of the grip of Syria and the Islamic terrorist group Hezbollah. On Friday, however, Israel, under increased rocket shelling from Lebanon, intensified its attacks, striking suspected Hezbollah command centers in the Beirut suburbs. Israeli Interior Minister Roni Bar-On said a main target is Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, traveling in Germany and Russia with Bush for the G-8 Summit, has had to walk a fine line on this one. On one hand, she wants to get the international community to ease tensions in the Middle East, lest they explode into a regional war. On the other, she is seeking common ground with that same international community in hope of providing a united response in convincing Iran and North Korea to abandon their nuclear programs. Thus, she doesn’t want her stand on Israel, which Russia and China do not always agree on, to mess up the effort to bring Iran and North Korea into tow. In a briefing with reporters in Germany on Thursday, she chose her words carefully when asked if she was disturbed by the Security Council vote against Israel, saying that she wanted to give more time to U.N. diplomatic efforts to defuse the crisis before issuing condemnations. “The U.S. veto does not mean that we are unconcerned about this crisis in the Gaza. Obviously, we’re very concerned about it. That’s why we’ve been spending as much time and effort as we have diplomatically in trying to help to resolve it,” she said. “But it does not help,” she added, “to have a resolution that doesn’t address in a concrete and useful way the origins of this crisis — that is, the abduction (of Israeli soldiers) and the rockets (fired on Israel). And it doesn’t help to have a resolution that has inflammatory language about one of the parties. It’s simply not going to create an atmosphere ... to de-escalate the crisis.” What can we conclude from the U.N. vote? Can we conclude that there is more ill will against Israel in the world body of nations than there is against Iran and North Korea? Or could it be that since the U.S. is a friend of Israel and a leader in the effort to halt Iran and North Korea’s nuclear programs, this was a chance to put America in its place? Either way, the vote does not bode well for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian crisis or curbing the nuclear ambitions of two nations, which with Iraq, were once described by Bush as an “Axis of Evil.” Richard Benedetto writes for Gannett News Service, 7950 Jones Branch Road, McLean, VA 22107. Send e-mail to features@gns.gannett.com.