UN security council condemns Israel, US refrains from voting
Palestine-UN, Politics, 5/20/2004

The UN security council said yesterday in a resolution the US refrained from voting to condemn Israel over killing the Palestinian civilians in Rafah area and called on Israel to stop demolishing the houses of the Palestinian in Gaza.

The US refrained from voting for the draft resolution which was supported by 14 of the 15 UN security council members, following Algeria which represents the Arab group at the UN security council. Diplomats said that the tone of the final resolutions script was modified to avoid the US using the Veto.

The resolution condemned the " killing of the Palestinian civilians in Rafah area and called on Israel to honor its obligations according to the International law. He stressed " Israel's commitment not to demolish the houses in contradiction with this law." The resolution which also called for ending the acts of violence called for " deep concern" over the humanitarian condition of the Palestinian who became homeless in Rafah camp for the refugees which is close to the Egyptian borders.

However, the last time in which the US refrained from voting on an UN resolutions was on September 24, 2002 where the VETO was used against a draft resolution calling on Israel to withdraw its army from the West Bank cities which were reoccupied.

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