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Al Jazeera on US pulling UN Annapolis resolution
Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit
sent by Steven L. Robinson - activ-l
Al Jazeera - Dec 1, 2007
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/E1EF42BE-882F-4242-BF6C-F1834659FE50.htm
US withdraws Annapolis resolution
The United States has withdrawn a resolution it presented to the UN
Security Council endorsing the relaunch of Middle East peace talks
agreed in Annapolis, Maryland.
US officials did not give a reason for Friday's move but diplomats
indicated that Israel, which is a close ally of Wa****ngton, did not
want the UN involved in the process.
"We looked at this matter, talked about it and at the end of the day the
secretary [of state Condoleezza Rice] believes that the positive
results of Annapolis speak by themselves," Sean McCormack, US state
department spokesman, said.
Israeli and Palestinian leaders agreed at the talks to work towards a
peace deal by the end of 2008.
The US draft said the council "endorses the programme of action for
negotiations and implementation of outstanding obligations ... agreed
upon by the Israeli and Palestinian leader****p at Annapolis, Maryland
on November 27, 2007".
Israeli unease
"It's not the proper venue," Daniel Carmon, Israel's deputy ambassador,
said after Friday's council meeting.
"We feel that the appreciation of Annapolis has other means of being
expressed than in a resolution."
Carmon said that the US had told Israel that the Palestinians also
objected to the draft.
Another Israeli diplomat said his government considered the relaunch of
the peace process to be solely a matter between Israel and the
Palestinians.
Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, said on Friday that he did not
know the details of the draft resolution but that he saw it as a sign of
Wasington's seriousness.
"This means, if what we have learned is verified, that there are serious
steps that speak to the existence of an American position sup****ting the
negotiations," he said in Tunisia.
On Thursday, after the session at which the draft was submitted, Zalmay
Khalilzad, US ambassador to the UN, said Security Council members
intended to discuss the text with the parties involved.
His comments appeared to suggest that Israel and the Palestinians had
not been consulted before the text was drafted.
After the draft resolution was withdrawn, Riyad Mansour, UN permanent
representative for Palestine, said: "We were sup****tive of a reaction
of the Security Council to sup****t what came out from Annapolis in any
form."
George Bush, US president, brought together Ehud Olmert, Israel's prime
minister and Abbas at Annapolis on Tuesday in a bid to restart the
Middle East peace process
*
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