U.S. kills vote on shrine attack

Press, 22 April 1982, Page 9

U.S. kills vote on shrine attack

(ZPA-Reuter New York The United States yester-. lay vetoed a United Nations lecurity Council resolution vhich condemned recent hooting incidents on TempleMount in Jerusalem as “appalling acts of sacrilege.” The vote was 14 in favour ind one against. The negative, vote by the Jmted States, one of the ouncil’s five permanent nembers. was sufficient to :ill the draft. It was the hirty-first United States 'eto since the United Nations vas set up in 1945. The vote came after weekong debate on the shooting it the sacred Temple Mount >y Alan Guttman, an Ameri:an immigrant and Israeli trmy reservist, who killed wo Arabs and wounded 30. The shooting on April 11 ouched off widespread iemonstrations in the Israeli-occupied territories, •esulting in more casualties. Guttman,, who the Israeli jolice have described, as leranged, opened fire on irowds near and from Omar Mosque and close to al-Aqsa Mosque, one of Islam’s holiest shrines. The United States Ambassador to the United Nations Mrs Jeane Kirkpatrick) said she voted against the resolution because it would serve io constructive purpose and would only further embitter the peoples of the region and ieepen the divisions that lould lead to conflict. "Thus, as much as we condemn the act of violence that occasioned this debate if the Security Council, we must oppose this resolution which, in our view, would make new acts of violence more, not less, likely to take place in the future,” she said. “We voted against the resolution because it contains language in the preambular and operative paragraphs which implies that the responsibility for this terrible event lies not with the individual who was responsible for the incident, but with the Israeli authorities who have unequivocally denounced the act.” Mrs Kirkpatrick also said that the draft, sponsored by Jordan and Morocco, joined by Uganda and Iraq, implied that Israel had hindered the work of Jerusalem’s higher Islamic Council. "The evidence is that Israel has, in the main, carefully respected the council’s role." she said.