This is just plain HUBRIS on the part of the US and is indicative of their LACK of foreign policy skills! Let's see, the "peace summit" lasted two days plus a meal that baby bush didn't even attend (most likely because Condi was afraid he would tuck his napkin under his chin) and now two days later THIS. The irony of what is written below is just blaring, "
"Although Israel apparently had no problems with the uncontroversial text, analysts suggested it was worried a formal resolution would get the United Nations too involved in Middle East peace efforts. Israel and the United States often complain of bias in the world body against the Jewish state."
But yet the US submitted it to the UN in this fashion. Is it just me, or am I seeing a MAJOR contradiction here?
U.S. pulls U.N. Middle East draft disliked by Israel
By Patrick Worsnip
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States withdrew on Friday a draft U.N. resolution endorsing action agreed at this week's Annapolis Middle East peace conference, a document Israeli officials said they felt was inappropriate.
Israeli diplomats at the United Nations said they did not object to the Security Council backing the outcome of Tuesday's meeting but did not consider a resolution the right way to do so. They also hinted Israel had not been consulted in advance on the draft the United States put to the council on Thursday.
After council discussions on the issue, U.S. envoy Alejandro Wolff told reporters Washington's "intensive consultations" had led it to conclude there was "some unease with that type of product" -- a resolution.
"In respect to both parties (Israelis and Palestinians) in terms of what they thought would be most helpful, we reached the conclusion that it would be best simply to withdraw it," he said, adding that the focus should be on Annapolis.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas agreed at the meeting in Annapolis, Maryland, hosted by President Bush, to try to reach a peace treaty and create a Palestinian state by the end of 2008.
Israeli deputy U.N. representative Daniel Carmon told reporters Israel welcomed council support for Annapolis, but added, "We feel that the appreciation of the council has other means of being represented and reflected than resolutions."
The brief draft resolution, made available to journalists, would have endorsed actions agreed at Annapolis and called on all states to support them as well as well as to aid the struggling Palestinian economy.
Although Israel apparently had no problems with the uncontroversial text, analysts suggested it was worried a formal resolution would get the United Nations too involved in Middle East peace efforts. Israel and the United States often complain of bias in the world body against the Jewish state.
ORAL STATEMENT
Asked in Washington about the resolution, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said, "You know, you take time to consider things, and you take a look at all the positive effects that have come out of Annapolis, and I'm not sure that we saw the need to add anything else to the conversation."
Instead of the resolution, the current council president, Marty Natalegawa of Indonesia, made an oral statement to journalists summarizing the feeling of the meeting -- the lowest grade of council utterance.
"We as president of the council detect and identify an overwhelming sense of welcome to what has happened in Annapolis ... (members) see the need to encourage the parties concerned to follow diligently the joint understanding that was reached," he said.
Carmon said Israel understood from the United States that the Palestinians were also unhappy about the resolution.
However, Abbas told a news conference in Tunis on Friday that the U.S. draft was "among the signals about the U.S. seriousness" to help forge a Middle East deal, although he said he had no details of the draft.
Both Israeli and Palestinian officials indicated they had not seen the text before the United States circulated it to the other 14 members of the council, who do not include either Israel or the Palestinian Authority.
Israel's U.N. Ambassador Dan Gillerman said on Thursday evening he would be glad to speak to his U.S. counterpart about the draft, "but at the moment I know very little about it."
A Palestinian diplomat, who asked not to be identified, said on Friday his mission had still not seen the draft and therefore had no comment on it.
French Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert said in a statement, "We understand the reasons put forward by the United States (for withdrawing the draft), but we remain convinced that the support of the international community to the process initiated in Annapolis remains indispensable."
(Editing by Mohammad Zargham)
AH HA!! THIS article explains things!
"State Department and Israeli foreign ministry officials, and their U.N. counterparts, meanwhile, tried to trace back their steps, two officials familiar with both camps said. They attempted to figure out how Mr. Khalilzad moved to a council action mere hours after Washington decided to have the world body confer its legitimacy on the Annapolis process, and before hearing Israel's possible objections.
Traditionally, Israel had been uneasy about involvement of the council, or any U.N. body for that matter, in its negotiations with Arab counterparts. In the context of the nascent diplomacy that started in Annapolis, the council's "kibitzing" may become harmful, an Israeli diplomat said, adding, "In January, Libya will join the Security Council. Do you want Libya to become an overseer of our talks with Palestinians, which entered a very delicate stage at Annapolis?" Libya is on record opposing the two-state solution that underlines the Annapolis diplomacy."
WAIT a minute now, of course this article is from the New York Sun, but notice the wording, "before hearing ISRAEL'S possible objections" What about the PALESTINIANS? And HELLO, Libya joining the Security Council was a well-known fact, no-one thought of Israel's intransigence BEFORE this. Could it have been Israel's "ace in the pocket"- to BEGIN WITH?
How the hell is there going to be ANY "peace process" without the UN's involvement?
WHAT A JOKE!!!!
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