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US Vetoes UN Resolution to Protect Arafat

The United States vetoed an Arab-backed United Nations resolution Tuesday demanding that Israel halt threats to expel Yasser Arafat from the West Bank because it did not contain a condemnation of terrorist groups such as Hamas.

Eleven of the 15 Security Council nations voted in favor of the resolution and three abstained: Britain, Germany and Bulgaria.

Earlier Tuesday US officials said that they were not satisfied with a revised draft resolution demanding that the UN ensure the safety of Arafat, making a quick vote unlikely.

Syria had intended to push for a vote after a daylong open meeting on the Middle East Monday, but was persuaded by other council members to amend it and delay the vote for a day.

But US deputy ambassador James Cunningham told reporters Tuesday after seeing the new text that more consultations were needed.

"I don't think the revised text is any different from the previous text. Draw your own conclusions," he said. "I'm not sure it's going to come to a vote - or when it's going to come to a vote."

The resolution, drafted by Palestinian representative Nasser al-Kidwa, and sponsored by Syria, demands "that Israel, the occupying power, desist from any act of deportation and cease any threat to the safety of the elected president of the Palestinian Authority."

On Monday, diplomats from more than 40 countries took to the floor to condemn Israel's decision to remove Arafat. However, US Ambassador John Negroponte said Washington would veto the resolution in its present form because it does not condemn Palestinian terrorism and was "heavily biased" against Israel.

Addressing the council, UN Middle East envoy Terje Roed Larsen said the Middle East peace process has ground to a standstill and that more bloodshed is inevitable unless the road map can be quickly pushed forward.

Larsen criticized the Palestinians for failing to take advantage of a recent ceasefire to carry out security reforms including consolidation of security forces. He also criticized the Israeli decision on removing Arafat, as well as ongoing settlement activity.

In advance of the meeting, Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Dan Gillerman accused the Security Council of hypocrisy for considering the Palestinian resolution. Gillerman said the Security Council has met repeatedly to condemn Israeli actions, but ignores Palestinian suicide bombings and shooting attacks on Israelis.

As Gillerman was speaking, the Palestinian envoy to the UN Nasser al-Kidwa got up and left the discussion hall.

"High-minded rhetoric about the so-called legitimacy of Mr. Arafat's leadership and the illegitimacy of Israel's interference, are meaningless and hypocritical in the face of the hundreds of dead and injured innocent civilians killed with the direct approval or acquiescence of Mr. Arafat himself," Gillerman said.

"For how long will there be states among us who are willing to continue the charade of touting Mr. Arafat as a legitimate leader committed to the welfare of his people and peaceful relations with his neighbors. The ruin that Mr. Arafat has left behind in Jordan, in Lebanon, and in the West Bank testify that he has brought nothing but despair and devastation to his own people and to other people in the region."

"It would be a grave error if the Council were to come to the aid not of the victims of terrorism, but of their sponsor and perpetrator. The Council's focus should be directed first and foremost at terrorism and at its facilitators, and not at the response to terrorism. Pressure should be directed against the problem and not against those who are its victims, " he added.

The council began consultations on a resolution drafted by the Palestinians late Friday and then adjourned until today, despite Palestinian pressure for a quick vote.

Council ambassadors said they wanted to consult their capitals and wait for the outcome of Secretary-General Kofi Annan's meeting in Geneva on Saturday with the foreign ministers of the five permanent council nations - the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France.

Russia considers that any attempt by Israel to remove Arafat would be counterproductive and could lead to a serious global crisis in the Mideast, Deputy Foreign Minister Yuri Fedotov said.

An attempt to kill Arafat could lead to "an immense and wide scale growth in the threat of terrorism," he said.

So far, the council has only issued a press statement saying "the removal of chairman Arafat would be unhelpful and should not be implemented." The statement, read by the council president, British Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry, reflected the consensus among the 15 council members.

The government is trying to persuade the United States to veto the resolution, Gillerman said, but at the moment it seems more likely Washington will abstain, allowing the resolution to pass. The United States has in the past vetoed resolutions that it has felt are too hard on Israel.

Israel has intensified its hunt for militants since an Aug. 19 bus bombing in which 23 people, including six children, were killed. After twin suicide bombing attacks last Tuesday, in which 15 people were murdered, the security cabinet decided to "remove" Arafat, calling him the major obstacle to peace.

"The fact that the Security Council remembers meet because of a decision to expel a person, who in everyone's opinion is a murderer and responsible for the wave of terrorism, and possibly for the worst terrorism in the 21st century, is a black mark," Gillerman said.

By THE JERUSALEM POST INTERNET STAFF

US vetoes UN resolution to protect Arafat
From Jerusalem Post: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/A/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1063597074280

U.S. Federal Court Orders Iran to Compensate U.S. Victims of 1997 Jerusalem Bombing

A federal judge has ruled that the Iranian government must pay more than $400 million in damages to eight Americans injured in a 1997 suicide bombing in Jerusalem.

U.S. District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina said the attack at a crowded pedestrian mall was carried out by members of the radical Islamic group Hamas, which the State Department says receives training, money and operational support from Iran.

Powerful explosive devices loaded with nails, screws, pieces of glass and chemical poisons killed five people and wounded nearly 200 in the Sept. 4, 1997, attack.

The lawsuit is among dozens filed against Iran under a 1996 U.S. law that allows Americans to sue nations listed by the United States as sponsoring terrorism for damages suffered in terrorist acts. The Iranian government has not responded formally to any of the lawsuits.

In the Jerusalem bombing decision, issued Wednesday, Urbina awarded nearly $110 million in compensatory damages, which compensates for actual harm, to the eight Americans directly injured in the attack and $13.5 million in compensatory damages for emotional suffering to four family members of the victims. He also awarded $300 million in punitive damages to be shared among victims.

Victims of foreign terrorism who win judgments against Iran are allowed to collect a portion of their compensatory damages from the U.S. government. Frozen Iranian assets in the United States serve as collateral for the payments.

By The Associated Press

Court orders Iran to compensate U.S. victims of J'lem bombing
From Ha'aretz: http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=340562&contrassID=1&subContrassID=8&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y

Cabinet Okays 2004 Budget

The government approved the 2004 budget - which at about 360 billion is NIS 10 billion less than this year's budget - by a 14-9 majority at 3 A.M. yesterday. All five Shinui ministers and four Likud ministers - Health Minister Danny Naveh, Education Minister Limor Livnat, Industry and Trade Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz - voted against the budget.

Within hours after the early-morning approval, some cabinet ministers, as well as the opposition, attacked the budget and the circumstances surrounding the vote.

The vote came at the end of an 18-hour meeting that included a last-minute vote to cut NIS 1.1 billion from all National Insurance Institute allotments with the exception of guaranteed income and child support payments and allocations to the elderly and the severly handicapped.

The meeting opened Monday morning with a statement by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon insisting on the budget's approval by the end of the meeting, whenever that might be. He said the eyes of the international financial markets would be focused on the government decision, which includes a 4 percent cap on the deficit spending. Given that cap, the government had to cut the budget by NIS 10 billion. And, Sharon said, to meet that NIS 10 billion goal, all ministry budgets would be cut by an additional 4 percent.

Several ministers complained that they required more time to study the budget book, which they received a week ago, and asked Sharon to postpone the vote, but the prime minister refused.

Therefore, the session opened with the ministers' knowing that another NIS 1-1.5 billion would have to be cut. But Sharon and Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the nature and scope of the additional cut would be clarified only at the end of the meeting, after which a vote on that cut would be held.

During the meeting, most of the minsters told the press they would vote against the budget, since that guaranteed them a meeting with treasury officials during the cabinet meeting as well as promises for significant changes in their budgets. By midnight, the pressure was intensive. Netanyahu, Minister in the Finance Ministry Meir Sheetrit and most senior treasury officials lobbied each of the ministers as they entered and exited the cabinet room while the debate continued. Only four ministers spent all 18 hours in the cabinet room - Sharon, Netanyahu, Mofaz, and Social Affairs Minister Zevulun Orlev of the National Religious Party.

Around midnight, ministers began issuing statements to the press about their achievements. Shinui, for example, announced it would back the budget because it was promised that the religious councils would be dismantled, university tuitions would not be increased, soldier demobilization grants would not be cut, and the functions of the Religious Affairs Ministry would be dispersed among the ministries. That prompted the NRP ministers to charge that the deal regarding the dismantled ministry violated the coalition agreement. As a result, Orlev and the NRP chairman, Housing Minister Effi Eitam, went to Sharon and Netanyahu. It did not take long for them to announce that the religious councils would not be dismantled and the remaining parts of the Religious Affairs Ministry would stay in place. As a result, the NRP ended up backing the budget and Shinui, feeling betrayed, voted against it.

But there would be a late night twist to come, when finally, as promised, the ministers were presented with two alternatives to cut an additional NIS 1.1 billion more from the budget.

First, he asked for a vote on whether to cut another NIS 1.1 billion. Fifteen ministers voted in favor, seven voted against. Then he presented the alternatives: either cut most of the NII allotments by 5 percent, requiring legislation, or cut NIS 257 million from education, health, local authorities and pubic transportation.

Only eight ministers remained to vote on the choice between the two alternatives, and they voted 5-3 in favor of the welfare cuts. Sharon, Netanyahu and Minister without Portfolio for Strategic Affairs, Gideon Ezra, voted for the ministerial cuts, while the other five - Olmert, Sheetrit, Tzipi Livne, Yisrael Katz and Tzachi Hanegbi, voted to cut the allotments.

Orlev wrote to Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein complaining about how the vote was conducted, calling it undemocratic. Other ministers voiced a similar complaint. Orlev said the ministers did not know what they were voting for and how deep a cut will be made. "I am ashamed to be part of such a government," he said.

Labor Party opposition leader Shimon Peres said: "It would be better not to try to implement the measures introduced by the government last night. They will just generate shockwaves in an already unstable economy. We need to return to being a welfare state."

By Moti Bassok

Cabinet okays 2004 budget with huge cuts to welfare
From Ha'aretz: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/340970.html