Last update - 00:00 10/01/2007
U.S.: Indonesian UN statement on Mideast conflict 'unbalanced'
By The Associated Press
Indonesia introduced a draft United Nations statement Tuesday to promote the momentum of the recent meeting between the Israeli and Palestinian leaders, but the United States said the statement blamed Israel for recent incursions and was unbalanced.
Indonesia's UN Ambassador Rezlan Jenie, a new member of the Security Council, said his aim in presenting the draft was "to try to build up a
positive momentum towards the future" following the recent meetings between Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and between Olmert and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
Acting U.S. ambassador Alejandro Wolff said there is an element of encouraging talks in the draft presidential statement, but "there's an element of blaming the Israelis for recent incursions" into Palestinian territories.
"Our view is that it's an unbalanced snapshot of the situation, [and] gives a misleading picture of what's going on," Wolff said. "We have Israelis retaliating to terrorist attacks. We've got a security vacuum as a result of the military conflict between Hamas and Fatah in the Palestinian territories."
"The Israelis have every right to defend their citizens, and so without some sense of context or reference, this sort of one-sided statement does not contribute to the effort to promote peace and security and stability in the region. On the contrary, it makes people think that the UN can't view this issue objectively," Wolff said.
Indonesia's Jenie said council experts would be discussing the draft statement, though no date has been set for a meeting.
"Let's see how we can work together and try to narrow differences" and have something that could be adopted by consensus, he said.