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Quartet Middle East envoy Tony Blair laughing with United Nations General Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon before the peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland on Tuesday. (Reuters)
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Last update - 20:04 01/12/2007
U.S. withdraws UN Annapolis resolution after Israel objects
By Shlomo Shamir, Haaretz Correspondent and The Associated Press
Tags: Palestinians, United Nations 

In a sudden about face, the United States on Friday withdrew a United Nations resolution endorsing this week's agreement by Israeli and Palestinian leaders to try to reach a Mideast peace settlement by the end of 2008 after Israeli objected to it.

Israel expressed opposition to the American initiative to pursue Security Council support for the proposed resolution because it does not consider most of the member states of the council to be friendly toward Israel.

U.S. deputy ambassador Alejandro Wolff informed the Security Council that the United States was pulling the resolution from consideration less than 24 hours after U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad introduced it and welcomed the very positive response from council members.
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UN sources said that Israel expressed dissatisfaction over the fact that Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. ambassador to the UN, did not give it advance notice of its intentions to pursue UN adoption of decisions made at the Middle East peace conference held in Annapolis, Maryland earlier this week.

"It's not the proper venue," Israel's deputy ambassador Daniel Carmon told reporters after Friday's council meeting. "We feel that the appreciation of Annapolis has other means of being expressed than in a resolution."

"We were not the only ones to object, Carmon added," saying the Americans had told the Israelis that the Palestinians also objected. UN sources also said that the Palestinian Authority said it wasn't interested in a resolution.

Although Israel apparently had no problems with the uncontroversial text, analysts suggested it was worried a formal resolution would get the United Nations too involved in Middle East peace efforts. Israel and the United States often complain of bias in the world body against Israel.

However, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told reporters in the Tunisian capital, Tunis, on Friday, that while he didn't know the details of the draft resolution, it was a sign of the seriousness of the United States, which he also perceived at this week's U.S.-sponsored conference in Annapolis.

"This means, if what we have learned is verified, that there are serious steps that speak to the existence of an American position supporting the negotiations," Abbas said.

Wolff told reporters the U.S. had held intensive consultations over the past few days and the upshot was that there were some unease with the idea of a resolution.

"The focus, we all realized again, should be placed and remain on Annapolis and the understanding that was reached there," Wolff said.

"It's a momentous decision... and rather than dilute from that and in respect to both parties in terms of what they thought would be most helpful, we reached a conclusion that it would be best to withdraw it," Wolff added.

Word of the opposition to the resolution came after Khalilzad told reporters after closed-door discussions Thursday on the draft resolution that there was enormous support for the decisions taken by Olmert and Abbas at the peace conference.

"Everyone that spoke was very positive," he said. "Everyone recognizes that we collectively and individually have to do what we can to be supportive, sustain the momentum and help the parties as they make the difficult decisions that they have to make."

Khalilzad had said he would consult with the Israelis and Palestinians overnight on the text of the resolution to ensure that it's what they want.

Indonesia's UN Ambassador Marty Natalegawa, the current council president, had expressed hope that the resolution would be adopted on Friday, after the council's monthly Mideast briefing.

"From the presidency perspective, we see there is a good potential for a common, positive response to Annapolis which we wish to nurture and capture as early as possible so that positive momentum is maintained," he said, before the resolution was withdrawn.

The Annapolis conference drew 44 nations, including Israel's neighboring Arab states whose support is considered vital to any peace agreement. A joint understanding between the Israelis and Palestinians, in doubt until the last minute, was salvaged and Abbas and Olmert reiterated their desire to reach a peace settlement by the end of next year.

Qatar's UN Ambassador Nassir Al-Nasser, the only Arab member of the Security Council, told reporters "we are happy with the language as it is in the U.S. draft resolution."

"I am happy that the council is dealing with this issue," he said. "For me, this is the main thing."

The draft resolution affirmed the Security Council's vision of a region where two states, Israel and Palestine, live side by side within secure and recognized borders.

It welcomed the diplomatic efforts at the Annapolis conference to realize this vision as a concrete step towards a comprehensive Middle East peace, and also endorsed the program of action for negotiations and implementation of outstanding obligations pursuant to the road map peace plan agreed upon by the Israeli and Palestinian leadership at Annapolis, Maryland on Nov. 27, 2007.


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      1.   Hmmmmmmm! 04:22  |  Jack 30/11/07
      2.   A coercive, one-sided, "peace" cannot stand 05:33  |  Natallie Durson 30/11/07
      3.   Will the UN bring peace? 05:40  |  Dan Chazan 30/11/07
      4.   Annapolis 06:06  |  Fran?ois Jadoul 30/11/07
      5.   Sorry Natalie, What was that? 06:19  |  Awake 30/11/07
      6.   what deal? 07:11  |  KMS 30/11/07
      7.   #3 Dan Chazan - Israel 07:36  |  * BEN JABO 30/11/07
      8.   No U.S. Veto For A Change 09:07  |  chet 30/11/07
      9.   Are targeted killings designed to disrupt the process? 09:14  |  J K 30/11/07
      10.   Another Useless Agreement 09:28  |  Mark Hamil 30/11/07
      11.   #3 kms 09:44  |  harald 30/11/07
      12.   The US tries to build a mountain out of a pile of froth 09:46  |  Clickfool 30/11/07
      13.   Bad news for "Awake" # 5 10:09  |  Clickfool 30/11/07
      14.   Olmert talk peace but 10:53  |  Dav 30/11/07
      15.   Olmert and his "power base" in America 11:07  |  Clickfool 30/11/07
      16.   It addresses me! - Clickfool. 11:17  |  Awake 30/11/07
      17.   question is, will The Entire Arab World accept Israel FOR GOOD... 12:18  |  Pavel 30/11/07
      18.   Hollow nonsense 13:53  |  Fahmi Natour 30/11/07
      19.   Awake,Clickfool & Natalie D. are on the right track !Wake up,an 13:59  |  lakshmi 30/11/07
      20.   Lakshmi - What are you reading?! 14:23  |  Awake 30/11/07
      21.   Means nothing 14:36  |  William 30/11/07
      22.   ANOTHER RESOLUTION? .... HOW MANY ISRAEL HAS IGNORED IN THE PAST? 15:06  |  TrippleJump 30/11/07
      23.   Durson...hoping for more and getting less 15:09  |  Lynn 30/11/07
      24.   UN should reiterate the need for full israeli withdrawal 15:26  |  Jens 30/11/07
      25.   The UN Has Been Useless Thus Far 15:40  |  MIKE 30/11/07
      26.   to lakshimi 15:48  |  Sol 30/11/07
      27.   20Awake,your nice distinction between `fraud` and `failure` is 15:55  |  lakshmi 30/11/07
      28.   TrippleJump 16:25  |  Awake 30/11/07
      29.   UN resolution 16:51  |  B 30/11/07
      30.   and US will not Veto such resolution! 16:54  |  El-Birawi 30/11/07
      31.   #30 El Birawi 17:56  |  * BEN JABO 30/11/07
      32.   Here we go - on the road to nowhere....!! 19:52  |  Palestinian Brit 30/11/07
      33.   Yeahh... sure not the appropriate channel... 19:57  |  Dutch Dirk 30/11/07
      34.   un resolution 19:59  |  marcel 30/11/07
      35.   The UN has done nothing positive toward Israel since 29 Nov 1947, 20:06  |  Avner 30/11/07
      36.   Whats the problem? 20:07  |  Chris Linthwaite 30/11/07
      37.   Israel hopes Annapolis will be quietly forgotten 20:07  |  Clickfool 30/11/07
      38.   Democratic choices? 20:16  |  john 30/11/07
      39.   Security Council 20:17  |  Fred Omran 30/11/07
      40.   For Avner # 35 20:19  |  Clickfool 30/11/07
      41.   Lakshmi proves our point!!! 20:23  |  DR 30/11/07
      42.   "US has no intention of using a veto..." 20:24  |  Goldberg 30/11/07
      43.   UNIFIED NATION; (call it whatever) - learn from INDO-PAK 20:39  |  An Indian 30/11/07
      44.   we need a channel to voice our openion to Hamas 20:41  |  john 30/11/07
      45.   U.N. should vote on resolution anyway 20:55  |  Awake 30/11/07
      46.   Moments of truth 20:55  |  Michael N 30/11/07
      47.   Israels great moment 20:56  |  Sam 30/11/07
      48.   DON`T MISINTERPRET 21:03  |  Brant 30/11/07
      49.   Ben Jabo, Israel the boss will now veto 21:04  |  El-birawi 30/11/07
      50.   # 30 El Birawi...Pals don`t want the UN resolution 21:04  |  Lynn 30/11/07
      51.   Quite Comical 21:11  |  Natallie Durson 30/11/07
      52.   The Allon Plan Marches On 21:19  |  Harris 30/11/07
      53.   The proof of the pudding 21:19  |  Joshua 30/11/07
      54.   Natalie, #2 You are 100% correct 21:41  |  Mark 30/11/07
      55.   Last American soldier 21:48  |  Cankan 30/11/07
      56.   Re Natallie #51 22:13  |  Esther 30/11/07
      57.   46Michael N. if you go right now to www.Maannews.net/en 22:18  |  lakshmi 30/11/07
      58.   US impartiality lasted about 24hrs; not bad! 22:30  |  Chanalau, Tova 30/11/07
      59.   #36 Linthwaite - the problem is 22:55  |  * BEN JABO 30/11/07
      60.   Israel as Victim 23:18  |  J Olson 30/11/07
      61.   which of which is better 23:30  |  observer 30/11/07
      62.   Cluckfool making a molehill out of a mountain 00:14  |  shmuelly tooly 01/12/07
      63.   Aha,israel does not want the issue to be brought out once again 00:41  |  lakshmi 01/12/07
      64.   Just Testing, Testing to see if Israel is onboard. 00:47  |  Ha ha ha h ah a 01/12/07
      65.   Bush and Rice want to be loved by the Islamic countries 00:59  |  EgyptJewRefugee 01/12/07
      66.   #36 & #51 - Chris & Natalie 01:04  |  Yitz 01/12/07
      67.   #59 Ben Jabo 01:39  |  Chris Linthwaite 01/12/07
      68.   Olmert`s 15 Minutes of Success 02:26  |  Yoram 01/12/07
      69.   Time for talk is over, Israel 02:35  |  Jim 01/12/07
      70.   #24 Jens 02:56  |  Jim 01/12/07
      71.   #37 Clickfool 03:08  |  Jim 01/12/07
      72.   # 45 Awake 03:18  |  Jim 01/12/07
      73.   the u.n. 03:21  |  Shmuelshachor 01/12/07
      74.   ASStricks BEN JABO # 31 04:48  |  American in NY 01/12/07
      75.   And we should all do as Israel says!! 11:07  |  MiddleStanian 01/12/07
      76.   Pavel # 17: For the time being... 11:45  |  Nad 01/12/07
      77.   MERSHEIMER AND WALT, THANKS 12:11  |  indrajaya 01/12/07
      78.   I was right. Israel makes the decisions for the US 12:14  |  El-birawi 01/12/07
      79.