U.S. vetoes UN draft resolution condemning Israeli attack in Gaza

The United States on Saturday vetoed an Arab-sponsored UN Security Council draft resolution which sought to condemn the deadly Israeli attack in Gaza and urge an immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from there.

Among the 15 council members, 10 voted in favor and four -- Britain, Denmark, Japan and Slovakia -- abstained. The United States voted against the draft resolution.

"The draft doesn't display an even-handed characterization of the recent events in Gaza, nor does it advance the cause of Israeli-Palestinian peace to which we aspire and for which we are working assiduously," U.S. Ambassador to the UN John Bolton told the council.

The United States is one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council which wield veto power.

Palestinian UN observer Riyad Mansour expressed disappointment over the vote, stressing the council was conveying two wrong messages to the outside.

"For Israel, you have conveyed to them they can continue to behave above international law. For the Palestinian people, you have conveyed that justice is not being dealt with in a proper way," he said.

Mansour told reporters later that foreign ministers of Arab nations would hold a meeting in Cairo on Sunday to decide the next steps.

He said one option was to bring the measure to a vote in the 192-nation UN General Assembly, where Washington does not have veto power.

It was the second time for the United States to cast a veto in the council this year on a draft resolution concerning Israeli military operations in Gaza.

On July 13, the United States killed a draft resolution reacting to an earlier Israeli incursion in Gaza in response to the capture of an Israeli soldier by Palestinian militants.

Source: Xinhua