UN Council members slam Israel, call for restraint

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, October 07, 2003

UN Council members slam Israel, call for restraint

The majority of the UN Security Council members Sunday condemned Israeli air strike on Syrian territory and urged both parties to exert restraint to avoid further escalating of tension.

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The majority of the UN Security Council members Sunday condemned Israeli air strike on Syrian territory and urged both parties to exert restraint to avoid further escalating of tension.

At an emergency Security Council meeting convened at the request of Syria, Fayssal Mekdad, Syrian ambassador to the United Nations, condemned the Israeli attack as a "flagrant violation of the principles of international law" and a "new and dangerous escalation."

He said Syria believed that the Council was the most appropriate forum to address, condemn and halt this dangerous development, with a view to preventing a repetition of such acts.

The ambassador reiterated that Syria was "not incapable of establishing a balance of resistance and deterrence that would force Israel to revise its calculations," but stated that Syria had exercised maximum self-restraint because it recognized that Israel was creating pretexts with a view to "exporting its current domestic crisis to the entire region."

He said Syria had come to the Security Council, to demonstrate once again to the entire world its adherence to the United Nations and its resolutions. He also said Syria had officially submitted the text of a draft resolution that responded to the challenges before the Council, and expressed confidence that all council members would respond and stand up to this Israeli challenge in the context of their ongoing efforts to address any threat to international peace and security.

Sami Kronfol, Lebanese ambassador to the UN, said Israel's attack was a blatant aggression against the UN-sponsored blue line in southern Lebanon, endangering stability in that area, and could provoke a new cycle of violence in the Middle East.

He said that Israel had no right to exploit the international campaign against terrorism and use it as a stalking horse to implement its policy of occupying Arab lands, and urged the Security Council to condemn the Israeli aggression against Syria.

In his speech, Gennady Gatilov, Russian ambassador to the UN, said the latest developments in the Middle East had caused growing concern and alarm. He noted that following terrorist attack in Haifa, Israeli warplanes, for the first time in many years, launched missile strike against alleged terrorist targets on Syrian territory and worried about reports that other attacks against terrorists were coming.

He warned that such acts were fraught with danger for other countries and might lead to even more dramatic and tragic consequences, both for the already very tense situation in the region, as well as for the international security.

The Russian ambassador urged the parties to the conflict to show maximum restraint and to act in as balanced and responsible way as possible, so as to prevent any further escalation of violence and avoid regional destabilization.

German ambassador to the UN Gunter Pleuger reiterated Germany's view that military action against Syria was unacceptable. He stressed that violation of the sovereignty of a neighboring state did not facilitate regional peace and stability, instead it would only further complicate the conflict.

He also condemned the suicide bombing in Haifa, demanding the seacts of terrorism be stopped. He expressed Germany's concern about the worsening situation in the Middle East region and stressed the need to break the vicious circle and counter the violence.

French ambassador to the UN Jean-Marc De La Sabliere expressed his deep concern over the deteriorating situation in the region. He condemned violence of whatever origin, and called such act "unacceptable and politically ineffective, and obscuring the political horizon."

"The attack near Damascus was an unacceptable violation of international law, said Sabliere, adding that it was now the responsibility of all states in the region to refrain from increasing tensions.

He said there could be no lasting security without peace, which could only reign with negotiation; the force of weapons would not bring peace. "The opportunity for a comprehensive settlement, in keeping with the relevant Security Council resolutions, existed in the Road Map, which contained Syrian and Lebanese aspects, as well," he added.

Permanent representatives to the UN from Bulgaria, Chile, Angola, Guinea condemned Saturday's terrorist act in Haifa, and said nothing could justify such an attack against innocent civilians.

They also condemned Israel's air strike against Syrian territory, saying it was unacceptable and constituted a violation of international law and the UN Charter. Guinean UN envoy Alpha Ibrahima Sow noted that the Israeli armed reprisal was "disproportionate and proceeded form a political desire to destroy the peace process," and urged the Israeli government to show more restraint and moderation and comply with the relevant Council resolutions. He expressed his country's support for Syria's draft resolution.

Other council members also urged both parties to show restraint, and respect their commitment to the Road Map and all earlier agreements, so that prudence, reason, moderation and international law would prevail.

Yahya Mahmassani, Permanent Observer for the League of Arab States, condemned Israel's attack on Syria as a "threat to international peace and security and a flagrant violation of international law."

He said the attack could further deteriorate the tense situation in the Middle East, pushing it into a cycle of violence.

In his speech, Israeli ambassador to the UN Dan Gilierman said Saturday's attack on Israeli civilian target was the latest in more than 40 terrorist acts by Islamic Jihad in the past few years, saying that the encouragement, safe harbor, training, funding and logistical support offered by Syria to a various terrorist groups was a "matter of public knowledge."

He accused Syria of directing acts of terrorism itself, with coordination and briefings by phone and Internet, and by summoning activists to Damascus for briefings. He also accused Syria of using its state-run media and official institutions to glorify and encourage suicide bombings against civilian targets in Israel.

US ambassador to the UN John Negroponte called on all sides to avoid heightening the tension in the Middle East and to think carefully about the consequences of their actions.

He said that Syria was on "the wrong side" of the war on terrorism, adding that it was "in Syria's interest, and in the broader interest of Middle East peace, for Syria to stop harboring and supporting the groups that perpetrated terrorist acts."

Early Sunday, Israeli warplanes struck a target north of Damascus, wounding two people. Israel said the camp was a training base for the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad, which claimed responsibility for Saturday's suicide bombing in the northern Israeli city of Haifa. The bombing killed 19 people and wounded some 50 others.

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