Middle East.

• Position: UN's peacekeeping efforts - Peacewatch

Due to negative votes by a permanent member - the United States - the Security Council on two occasions, on 7 and 21 March, failed to adopt draft resolutions calling for the cessation of Israel's construction of the Jabal Abu Ghneim settlement in East Jerusalem.

In explaining his country's opposition, Ambassador Bill Richardson of the United States on 21 March said neither the Council nor the General Assembly should be asserting themselves into issues that the negotiating partners had decided would be "addressed in their permanent status talks". Such interference could only harden the positions of both sides.

On the other hand, he continued, no one should interpret United States veto as an expression of support for the construction project, which was "not helpful to the peace process". The parties must take "special care to avoid pre-emptive actions that could be seen to prejudge the outcome of negotiations".

Nasser Al-Kidwa, Permanent Observer for Palestine, believed the veto had not been "cast to protect the peace process", but rather to "shield Israel from the will of the international community" and exempt it from the provisions of international law. While he condemned and rejected the 21 March bombing in Tel Aviv as "harming the peace process as a whole", the occurrence of such acts could "not be isolated, however, from the grave and tense situation created by the actions of the Israeli authorities", he stated.

David Peleg of Israel said the group Hamas had claimed responsibility for the bombing, which killed 3 women and injured 40 others. The Palestinian leadership had "not countered terrorist leaders or their stated intentions", thus ignoring its responsibilities under the agreements to end terrorism. "The language of incitement seldom remains in the realm of words alone", he stressed.

Earlier, Israel had been called upon to rescind its 26 February decision to build the new settlement in East Jerusalem, as the Council held a two-day debate (5 and 6 March) on the situation in the occupied Arab territories. Some 49 speakers addressed the Council, with a number of them characterizing the recent Israeli action - approval of plans for Har Homa, a 6,500 unit housing project - as part of an overall government plan to create a fait accompli and ensure the "Judaization of Jerusalem" before the beginning of negotiations on the city's final status.

Assembly action

The General Assembly on 13 March, in expressing deep concern at Israel's decision...