At the behest of Arab states, the United Nations Security Council convened in urgent session over the weekend. Arab nations hoped to emerge with a condemnation against Israel in hand.
The urgent session dealt with last week’s artillery mishap in the Beit Hanoun area of northern Gaza in which 19 PA (Palestinian Authority) civilians were killed and tens injured.
Since the tragic incident, a number of the more seriously wounded victims were transported to Ichilov Hospital in Petach Tikvah. The preliminary findings of the investigation revealed that a newly-installed electronic component of the artillery’s tacking system malfunctioned, sending a false reading to the radar responsible for coordinates used to fire artillery shells. Seven of eleven shells fired were 200 meters (yards) off target, striking two homes in the northern Gaza village.
Britain, Slovakia, Japan and Denmark abstained, and other Council members voted for the draft resolution, except for the United States, which used its veto authority. It stated that the resolution failed to address ongoing PA terrorism, the reason the IDF military operation, Autumn Clouds, was launched in the first place. The four abstaining nations that refused to support the draft resolution agreed with America’s position, calling the bill biased and one-sided.
US UN Ambassador John Bolton joined his colleagues in expressing sorrow over the loss of life, but stated emphatically that the resolution fails to address true realities in Gaza vis-?-vis ongoing terror against Israeli communities.
It is the ongoing Kassam rocket attacks into the western Negev and Sderot area that compelled the IDF incursion. Israel in the summer of 2005 completed its retreat from Gaza, forcing the expulsion of the approximately 9,500 Jewish residents of the area, setting the stage for independent PA rule throughout Gaza. Despite the move, the rocket attacks against Israeli civilian population centers continue to increase in frequency, while terrorists exhibit tenacious efforts to continue developing longer-range rockets capable of striking deeper into southern pre-1967 Green Line Israel, having succeeded to date in landing rockets in Ashkelon.
Bolton stated the United States is concerned and demands the draft resolution also address ongoing Gaza-based terrorism as well as the support terrorists enjoy from the current Hamas-led PA administration.
The urgent session dealt with last week’s artillery mishap in the Beit Hanoun area of northern Gaza in which 19 PA (Palestinian Authority) civilians were killed and tens injured.
Since the tragic incident, a number of the more seriously wounded victims were transported to Ichilov Hospital in Petach Tikvah. The preliminary findings of the investigation revealed that a newly-installed electronic component of the artillery’s tacking system malfunctioned, sending a false reading to the radar responsible for coordinates used to fire artillery shells. Seven of eleven shells fired were 200 meters (yards) off target, striking two homes in the northern Gaza village.
Britain, Slovakia, Japan and Denmark abstained, and other Council members voted for the draft resolution, except for the United States, which used its veto authority. It stated that the resolution failed to address ongoing PA terrorism, the reason the IDF military operation, Autumn Clouds, was launched in the first place. The four abstaining nations that refused to support the draft resolution agreed with America’s position, calling the bill biased and one-sided.
US UN Ambassador John Bolton joined his colleagues in expressing sorrow over the loss of life, but stated emphatically that the resolution fails to address true realities in Gaza vis-?-vis ongoing terror against Israeli communities.
It is the ongoing Kassam rocket attacks into the western Negev and Sderot area that compelled the IDF incursion. Israel in the summer of 2005 completed its retreat from Gaza, forcing the expulsion of the approximately 9,500 Jewish residents of the area, setting the stage for independent PA rule throughout Gaza. Despite the move, the rocket attacks against Israeli civilian population centers continue to increase in frequency, while terrorists exhibit tenacious efforts to continue developing longer-range rockets capable of striking deeper into southern pre-1967 Green Line Israel, having succeeded to date in landing rockets in Ashkelon.
Bolton stated the United States is concerned and demands the draft resolution also address ongoing Gaza-based terrorism as well as the support terrorists enjoy from the current Hamas-led PA administration.