Israel Appeals to U.S. To Block U.N. Resolution on ‘Road Map’
WASHINGTON — Israel is making an urgent appeal to the Bush administration to block two Arab-initiated resolutions in the United Nations Security Council calling on Israel to stop building its West Bank security fence and authorizing the U.N. to press for the implementation of the “road map” peace plan.
Israel’s ambassador to the U.N., Daniel Gillerman, met Wednesday with senior Bush administration officials in the White House and was to convey his concern to Secretary of State Colin Powell.
Briefing Jewish community leaders on a conference call sponsored by the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations just before leaving for Washington, Gillerman said Israel viewed the two initiatives with “very great concern.” He explained that the resolutions, which may end up being combined, “may change the rules of the game” by leveraging America’s stated objection to the fence and by “hijacking” the road map, which has been spearheaded by the United States, and placing it in the hands of America’s partners in the so-called Madrid Quartet — the U.N., the European Union and Russia. If the U.N. is authorized to pursue the implementation of the road map, Gillerman said, it will put Israel at risk of being accused of violating Security Council resolutions.
Gillerman said that Israel is concerned because “understanding the rules of the game at the U.N., we know that the Americans may feel that after two vetoes they may feel they have to give something to the Arab side.” Gillerman, who encouraged Jewish organizations and activists to join in and launch a campaign to “strengthen the resolve of the White House” in its support of Israel, said: “This is something we are fighting very, very hard.”
Gillerman said Israel was “outraged and dismayed” that the Security Council held its discussion of the Syrian resolution condemning Israel for its air strike north of Damascus on Yom Kippur eve. Gillerman said he was also disappointed that America’s ambassador to the U.N., John Negroponte, “succumbed” to it. He did point out, however, that Negroponte, who chairs the Security Council, made provisions for Gillerman to speak first, before he had to leave to observe the holiday. He also said that Negroponte explained to him that an American insistence on delaying the vote could result in a procedural debate at the Security Council in which the United States could not use its veto.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
2X match on all Passover gifts!
Most Popular
- 1
News A Jewish Republican and Muslim Democrat are suddenly in a tight race for a special seat in Congress
- 2
Film & TV What Gal Gadot has said about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- 3
Fast Forward The NCAA men’s Final Four has 3 Jewish coaches
- 4
Culture How two Jewish names — Kohen and Mira — are dividing red and blue states
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward ‘Another Jewish warrior’: Fine wins special election for U.S. House seat
-
Fast Forward A Chicagoan wanted to protest Elon Musk — and put a swastika sticker on a Jewish man’s Tesla
-
Fast Forward NY attorney general orders car wash to stop ripping off Jews with antisemitic ‘Passover special’
-
Fast Forward Cory Booker proclaims, ‘Hineni’ — I am here — 19 hours into anti-Trump Senate speech
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.