Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
News

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.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

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 credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link 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.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.