Three texts - on Lebanon, Al-Aqsa, Libyan plane interception - vetoed in Security Council.

Three texts--on Lebanon, Al-Aqsa, Libyan plane interception--vetoed in Security Council

THE United States on 17 January vetoed a draft resolution by which the Security Council would have strongly deplored "Israeli acts of violence as well as abusive practices and measures against the civilian population in southern

Lebanon which are in violation of the rules and principles of international law, in particular the provisions of the Geneva Convention of 12 August 1949'.

The United States said the draft resolution (S/17730/Rev.2) could not bring closer a restoration of peace in Lebanon or relieve the suffering of the Lebanese. The text had failed to deal in "a fair and balanced manner' with the security problems of southern Lebanon, including the security of the Lebanon-Israel border, it said.

In recent weeks there had been rocket attacks on Israeli territory launched from Lebanese soil, as well as violence within southern Lebanon, the United States stated. Yet "this partisan draft resolution' ignored those facts. "Negative, one-sided draft resolutions . . . only serve those who wish to prevent progress towards peace in the region,' it concluded.

The Council vote--11 in favour to 1 against, with 3 abstentions--came after three Council meetings, on 13 and 17 January, were held to consider "continuing acts of aggression and abusive practices of the Israeli occupying forces in southern Lebanon'. Lebanon requested the meeting.

Bulgaria, China, Congo, France, Ghana, Madagascar, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, the USSR, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela voted in favour of the draft. Australia, Denmark and the United Kingdom abstained. (Bulgaria, Congo, Ghana, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela replaced Burkina Faso, Egypt, India, Peru and the Ukrainian SSR as non-permanent members of the Council on 1 January 1986. Each new member will serve a two-year term.)

The text, submitted by Lebanon, would have had the Council reaffirm the urgent need to implement its previous resolutions on Lebanon, particularly resolutions 425 (1978), 508 (1982) and 509 (1982), which demanded that Israel withdraw all its military forces forthwith and unconditionally to the internationally recognized boundaries of Lebanon.

The Council would have reiterated its call for strict respect for Lebanon's sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized boundaries, and demanded that Israel "desist forthwith from its practices and measures against the civilian population in southern Lebanon, which impede the restoration of normal conditions in the area and threaten the reconciliation efforts towards restoring peace and security in the whole country'.

The Secretary-General, in a 16 December interim report (S/17684) on the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), warned there would be a "disastrous increase' in violence in southern Lebanon if UNIFIL were to be withdrawn (see UN Chronicle, February 1986).

Debate

Rachid Fakhoury (Lebanon) said Israel's escalating aggressive policy and arbitrary practices were exacerbating the situation in southern Lebanon. They could precipitate eruptions of violence that could threaten international peace and security, both regionally and internationally.

On 30 December 1985, a joint force composed of the so-called South Lebanon Army and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) entered the village of Kunin, where it destroyed several houses and commercial stores, and burned a number of vehicles. Several hundred people fled their homes in Junin. Some 30 persons were detained.

The death toll in the area over the past eight months had reached 173, most of whom were civilians. The Israeli air force had been carrying out mock and actual raids. The Israeli fleet daily violated the integrity of Lebanese territorial waters, stopping vessels and blockading ports. Israel had a premeditated intention to impede the peace process in Lebanon and endeavoured to maintain the status quo in Lebanon and in the region, Mr. Fakhoury charged.

Israel's rejection of Security Council resolutions calling for its complete withdrawal from Lebanon and of UNIFIL's deployment to internationally recognized borders, its insistence on a "security belt' within Lebanese territory and its use of "puppet illegal forces' to support its own armed forces in perpetrating attacks and inhuman arbitrary practices, was the...