US Vetoes Security Council draft resolution condemning recent Israeli acts

A draft resolution which would have had the UN Security Council condemn recent Israeli acts, including the killing of several United Nations aid workers, was defeated on Friday by the United States, which in casting a no vote effectively vetoed the text, the United Nations said.

According to the source, twelve countries voted in favor of the Syria-sponsored draft, with Bulgaria and Cameroon abstaining. In addition to decrying Israel's recent killing of UN employees, the text noted that one victim had been an international staff member working in the Jenin refugee camp.

The draft also cited Israel's "deliberate destruction of a UN World Food Program (WFP) warehouse in Beit Lahiya in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, in which 537 metric tons of donated food supplies intended for distribution to needy Palestinians had been stored."

The draft demanded that Israel comply fully with its obligations under the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilians in Time of War, and "refrain from the excessive and disproportionate use of force in the Occupied Palestinian Territory."