UN Backs Arafat Tells Israel to Stop Threats

20/09/2003| IslamWeb

Side-stepping a US veto in the Security Council, the UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly yesterday to tell Israel to drop a threat to harm or deport Palestinian President Yasser Arafat. The 191-nation assembly, where Washington has no veto, voted 133-4, with 15 abstentions, in an emergency session to adopt a resolution demanding that the Jewish state not carry out a policy to "remove" Arafat. The US and Israel voted "No," joined by the Marshall Islands and Micronesia. Australia, Canada, Kenya and Colombia were among those abstaining. Arab and non-aligned nations asked the assembly to act after the US on Tuesday vetoed a virtually identical measure in the 15-nation Security Council. It was the 26th US veto of a Middle East resolution in the council, Palestinian UN envoy Nasser Al Kidwa said. The Palestinian Authority praised the UN General Assembly resolution calling it a "slap" at the Jewish state. Friday's debate opened with a speech by the Palestinian observer at the United Nations, Nasser al-Kidwa, who attacked Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, as well as the U.S. for veoting the Security Council resolution, saying it was the 26th occasion on which Washington had nixed a council resolution on Palestinian-related issues. "It is incumbent on the international community, and we here in this special session of the General Assembly, to take the necessary measures to prevent the looming combustion of the situation and to ensure that nobody will harm our president," al-Kidwa said in his speech. There could be no peace process until Israel ended its occupation of Palestinian lands and accepted a sovereign Palestinian state, he added. **PHOTO CAPTION*** Palestinian U.N. observer, Nasser al-Kidwa, bottom left, Israeli ambassador to the U.N. Dan Gillerman, second row from top right, deputy ambassador Arye Mekel, top row left, and counsellor David Govrin, top row right, prepare to leave the security council meeting after speaking about the failed resolution demanding that Israel halt its threats to expel Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2003 at the United Nations headquarters in New York. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)