Proposed text deploring Israeli acts violating sanctity of Jerusalem mosque vetoed in Security Council.

Proposed text deploring Israeli acts violating sanctity of Jerusalem mosque vetoed in Security Council

The United States on 30 January vetoed a draft resolution by which the Security Council would have strongly deplored "provocative acts' by Israelis, including Knesset members, violating the "sanctity of the sanctuary of the Haram Al-Sharif in Jerusalem'. (The Haram Al-Sharif is the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest shrine of Islam.)

The United States said it had no choice but to vote against the inappropriate draft resolution (S/17769/ Rev.1), which gave the "unmistakable impression' that the Israeli Government was to blame for the "provocative actions' of a few individuals. Israeli officials, religious leaders and many Israelis had promptly condemned the incidents as "needlessly insensitive' and contrary to Jewish law, and Israeli military authorities had moved swiftly to quiet a demonstration resulting from those "regrettable provocations'.

The Council vote--13 to 1, with 1 abstention--came after eight Council meetings, held between 21 and 30 January, to consider a complaint charging a "grave situation created in Jerusalem by Israeli actions violating the sanctity of the Haram Al-Sharif' and a "serious threat to international peace and security resulting from Israeli acts of profanation committed recently against the sanctuary of Haram Al-Sharif in Al-Quds (Jerusalem)'. The meeting was requested by Morocco as Chairman of the Organization of the Islamic Conference and by the United Arab Emirates as Chairman of the Arab Group.

Australia, Bulgaria, China, Congo, Denmark, France, Ghana, Madagascar, Trinidad and Tobago, the USSR, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and Venezuela voted for the draft. Thailand abstained.

The text, submitted by Congo, Ghana, Madagascar, Trinidad and Tobago and the United Arab Emirates, would have had the Council affirm that the acts in question constituted "a serious obstruction to achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East', the failure of which could also endanger international peace and security.

The Council would have determined that measures taken by Israel to change the physical character, demographic composition, institutional structure or status of the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967, including Jerusalem, or any part thereof, had "no legal validity'.

It would also have stated that Israel's policy and practices relating to settling parts of its population and new immigrants in those territories flagrantly violated the 1949 Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, and were "a serious obstruction' to a "comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East'.

The Council would have reiterated that all legislative and administrative measures and actions taken by Israel, "the occupying Power', which had "altered or purport to alter the character and status' of Jerusalem, and in particular the basic law on Jerusalem, were null and void and must be rescinded.

Israel would have been called on to observe scrupulously the norms of international law governing military occupation, in particular the provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention, and to prevent any hindrance to the discharge of the established functions of the Supreme Islamic Council in Jerusalem, including any co-operation that the Council might desire from "countries with predominantly Muslim populations and from Muslim communities in relation to its plans for the maintenance and repair of the Islamic holy places'.

Israel would have been urgently called on to implement forthwith the resolution and other relevant Council resolutions. The Secretary-General would have been asked to report to the Council on the resolution's implementation before 1 May 1986.

LETTERS: Among documents reviewed by the Council were two letters from Jordan to the Secretary-General (A/41/82-S/17727 and A/41/94-S /17749) regarding the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and letters from Israel (A/41/91-S/17739), and from Morocco (A/41/117-S/17765) to the Secretary-General.

In the 9 January Letter, Jordan said 20 Israeli Knesset (Parliament) members had, on the day before, entered the interior of the holy place while "the faithful' were engaged in midday prayer. The Knesset members had "the intention of desecrating it by establishing a place of prayer there for adherents of the Jewish religion', but were immediately driven out.

Israeli police, called by the Knesset, shortly thereafter...