Note there is a debate on whether or not to condemn Israel....
....not even a mention of one to castigate the Palestinians!!!
There's balance for you.
Ya rekon they're even-handed?
Ya rekon Israel will ever get a fair deal from them?
Not in this world
Bunch of f#ckwits.....
UN Security Council vote condemning Israeli air raid delayed
United Nations Security Council members agreed to delay a vote on a proposed Syrian resolution condemning an Israeli air raid on a purported Palestinian training base nowthwest of Damascus, until Monday afternoon at the earliest.
The Security Council met in an emergency session Sunday after Syria complained that the air raid threatened regional peace and stability.
U.S. diplomats said the resolution text, which made no reference to attacks on Israel, would not be adopted in its
current form.
Israel continues "to flout the Charter of the United Nations to the point that Arabs and many people across the globe feel that Israel is above the law," Syrian UN Ambassador Fayssal Mekdad said at the meeting and called for an immediate vote on the resolution.
Syria, the only Arab country on the council, was seeking a resolution from the 15-member council condemning the Israeli air strike and calling on Israel to halt actions that could result in "uncalculated consequences that would endanger the peace in the region."
Israeli Ambassador Dan Gillerman, speaking after Mekdad, accused Syria of providing "safe harbor, training facilities, funding, logistical support" to terrorist organizations.
He said it was ironic that Syria which Israel accuses of harboring terrorists, should call for a meeting to condemn the attack and compared it to Osama bin Laden demanding a Security Council meeting after the Sept. 11 attacks.
Gillerman also expressed anger that the meeting was called just before the holiest Jewish holiday, Yom Kippur.
U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte did not directly condemn the Israel airstrike, but instead called on "all sides to avoid heightening tensions and to think carefully about the consequences of their actions."
He blamed Syria for harboring terrorists.
"The United States believes that Syria is on the wrong of the side of the war on terrorism," he said. "We believe it is in Syria's interest, and in the broader interest of Middle East peace, for Syria to stop harboring and supporting the groups that perpetrate acts such as the one that occurred yesterday."
Other council diplomats condemned both Israel's airstrike in Syria as well as the bombing in Haifa, although they said Israel's retaliation action was not justified.
"We think this attack is an unacceptable violation of the international law," said France's Ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere.
Britain's Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry said, "Israel's action today is unacceptable and represents an escalation."
"Israel should not allow its justified anger at continuing terrorism to lead to actions that undermine both the peace process and we believe Israel's own interests," he added.
Jones Parry, however, also sounded a sympathetic note for Israel.
"We have to recognize that terrorists are continuing to attack Israel and are being permitted to do so," he said. "Allowing impunity to those committed to using terrorism as a political instrument serves only to undermine peace and prevent progress in the Middle East progress."
Pakistan's Ambassador Munir Akram also called Israel's attack "a violation of international law."
"We urge the council to speedily adopt the decision to condemn this military aggression and to uphold the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic," he said.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan condemned the air strike, and a statement from his office said the UN chief was concerned that the "escalation of an already tense and difficult situation has the potential to broaden the scope of current conflicts in the Middle East."
Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa lodged his country's complaint to Annan and the president of the Security Council, which is the United States during the month of October.
In a letter, al-Sharaa urged the Security Council to "immediately hold a session to discuss the Israeli aggression against Syrian territories and the measures the council ought to take to deter the Israeli government from following a provocative, aggressive policy against Syria."
"Syria is not incapable of creating a resisting and deterring balance that forces Israel to review its" actions, the letter said.
Al-Sharaa urged the Security Council to "condemn, deter and prevent the repetition of this dangerous development that threatens regional and international security and stability."
Israeli warplanes hit terrorist camp in Syria Israeli warplanes attacked an alleged training camp used by a number of anti-Israeli and Islamic militant groups on the Syria-Lebanon border on Sunday, in retaliation for a suicide bombing that killed 19 people in Israel.
It was the first time in decades that Israel has carried out strikes inside Syria.
The U.S. called for restraint on all sides on Sunday. "We urge all sides to exercise restraint and to keep in mind the consequences of their actions," the State Department said in a statement.
The State Department added that extremist groups, including Islamic Jihad, were present in Syria and it described Syria as a state sponsor of terror.
Meanwhile, a senior aide to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said that Israel could launch new attacks on Syria if Damascus continues to shelter terrorist organizations.
In a statement reporting the raid, the Israel Defense Forces said air forces carried out the attack "deep inside Syrian territory."
The IDF statement said "the army has started operating against those behind the attack, those who support (terror) and those who use the strategy of terror in order to harm citizens of Israel."
Syria said on Sunday the Israeli airstrike had targeted a civilian site near Damascus in a "grave escalation" of tensions in the Middle East.
In a letter to the United Nations seen by Reuters, Foreign Minister Farouq al-Shara said Syria was capable of deterring Israel but would exercise restraint over the raid. He also called for an immediate Security Council session to discuss the Israeli action.
But UN sources said that it had yet to receive the letter.
A diplomatic source said that Syria plans to ask the United Nations Security Council to hold a special session to discuss the attack. "I think they will make an official complaint," the source said.
A Syrian Foreign Ministry statement said the "urgent complaint ... will clarify (Syria's) position" to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the UN Security Council.
George Jabbour, a member of Syria's parliament, ruled out a military response, saying Syria will have to deal rationally with the attack. "The military option has conditions, among them that it be beneficial" to Syria, said Jabbour.
Military responses have not always proved to be of benefit to Syria, he said. Israel has military might, and Syria has a strong legal position, said Jabbour.
Palestinian sources in Beirut said Israeli warplanes raided a facility belonging to Ahmed Jibril's Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), injuring one man. In addition to PFLP members, terrorists from Islamic Jihad, Hamas and al Qaeda also utilized the camp for training. Among the buildings hit in the raid was a weapons workshop used by Islamic Jihad.
Military sources said that the base was selected as a target because of the central role that Islamic Jihad played in the Haifa bombing. The decision to carry out the raid was made in response to the bombing 12 hours earlier in Haifa.
"The Islamic Jihad, like other terror organisations ... enjoys the support and backing of countries in the region - foremost Iran and Syria," the army statemebnt said.
"Syria is a country that sponsors terror and constantly tries to sabotage any attempt to achieve quiet and stability in the region. Israel will not accept the rules of the game that the terrorists are trying to dictate, and will act with determination against all who harm its citizens, in accordance with the right to self defense and defense of the state."
Undated footage of the camp released by the IDF and taken from Iranian television shows a military officer conducting a tour of the camp. In one room were displayed hundreds of weapons, including grenades with Hebrew markings and other weapons apparently captured from Israel. Another scene showed a series of underground tunnels packed with arms and ammunition.
Syrian surprise Syrian commentators expressed surprise at the Israeli strike, since Damascus has repeatedly claimed that it does not have any Islamic Jihad training bases on it soil. Syrian sources say that Israel is ‘playing with fire,; and that the situation could rapidly deteriorate into regional conflict. There has been no official Syrian reaction to the attack.
Speaking on the al-Jazeera television network, Abu Emad El-Refaei, an Islamic Jihad spokesman in Beirut, Lebanon, denied that there were any Islamic Jihad bases in Syria.
"We do not have any training camps or bases in Syria or any other country," he said. "All our bases are inside the Palestinian occupied territories."
A senior commander for the radical Damascus-based Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command told The Associated Press in Damascus that the camp was one of their deserted bases, not on an Islamic Jihad camp. A civilian guard was injured in the attack, the commander said.
Syrian sources believe that the attack was carried out by IAF warplanes flying low over Lebanese territory and then crossing into Syria.
According to the Syrians, the camp was populated by civilians unconnected to any terror group. Damascus will now turn to diplomatic channel in response to the raid, including a request for the UN Security Council to condemn Israel.
'Axis of terror between Tehran, Damascus and Gaza' "We will not tolerate the continuation of this axis of terror between Tehran, Damascus and Gaza to continue to operate and kill innocent men, women and children," Raanan Gissin, a spokesman for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told CNN.
Israel could launch new attacks on Syria if the country continues to shelter "terrorist organisations who are preparing anti-Israeli attacks," he added. "The operation that took place early morning today was intended to send that message off to Syria as well to the leaders of the Islamic Jihad and Hamas."
Israel had not yet determined if any people were killed, Gissin said. "This was a measured response," he said. "We did not attack Syrian targets, but very specific camps used to train the terrorists."
The last similar raid was on April 16, 2001, when IAF warplanes blasted a Syrian radar station in Lebanon, where Syria is the main power broker, killing three Syrian soldiers. That strike was the first in five years against the Syrian military and came in retaliation for an attack by Syrian-backed guerrillas in which an Israeli soldier was killed.
Syria closed the offices of both Hamas and Islamic Jihad after the U.S. invasion of Iraq out of fear it could be the next nation targeted by the United States.
The U.S. had been pushing Syria to act further and expell Hamas and Islamic Jihad leader, but Syria has refused.
Western diplomats say Syria is loathe to be seen as betraying the Palestinian cause, and it also does not want to give up one of the few bargaining chips it still has in negotiations with Israel.
Despite Syrian denials, the diplomats say Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders in Syria give directions to the groups' members in the West Bank and Gaza.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak condemned the strike on Sunday, and visiting German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said it was "not acceptable."
"We condemn what happened today concerning the aggression against a brotherly state under the pretext that some organisations exist there," Mubarak said in a joint news conference with Schroeder.
Bomber's home razed Before dawn on Sunday, IDF troops demolished the Jenin home of 29-year-old Hanadi Jaradat, the Jenin woman who carried out the deadly attack in a crowded beachfront restauramt in Haifa.
In a statement confirming the demolition, an IDF spokesman said that the demolition of terrorists' homes sends out a message to militants and those who assist them that their actions carry a price that will be paid by all those who collaborate in such activities. The IDF will continue to use all legal measures at its disposal in order to target terrorists, the statement read.
Earlier, IAF helicopters attacked two targets in the Gaza Strip and Israel Defense Forces troops returned to the West Bank city of Jenin late Saturday night after 19 people were killed when a suicide bomber blew herself up in a Haifa restaurant earlier in the day.
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz conferred Saturday night with Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon and other security officials, and subsequently ordered the IDF to undertake a number of steps.
These responses, security sources said, will involve stepped up IDF activity in seam areas and their aim will be to stop terrorists from crossing in border areas where there are no fences. Selective assassinations of top Hamas and Islamic Jihad men in the Gaza Strip could also be resumed after a hiatus of a few weeks, the security sources added.
Israeli helicopters fired two missiles at a small, empty house near the beach in Gaza City early Sunday, and helicopters also fired missiles in a Gaza refugee camp, witnesses said.
The house is near the Gaza beach and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's residence, the witnesses said. Arafat has not been in Gaza for nearly two years.
The house belonged to the Kanita family, one of Gaza's largest, but it was empty at the time of the attack. Mohammed Kanita, a member of the family, said it had been uninhabited for a long time. There was no furniture in the house.
Ambulances arrived at the scene, but there were no casualties. Large crowds of people gathered at the scene, witnesses said.
The large family has representation in all of the main Palestinian groups, including the violent Hamas and Islamic Jihad, Palestinians said.
A few minutes later, Israeli helicopters fired three missiles at militants near a house in the Boureij refugee camp in central Gaza, residents said. The house belonged to an Islamic Jihad leader, Morshet Shahin, but residents said he escaped the attack. No casualties were reported, but some damage was caused.
The Gaza missile strike followed a meeting between Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and top military and security officers, discussing a response to the suicide bombing. No decisions were announced.
The witnesses said one missile sent smoke rising above the city, the biggest in the Gaza Strip, but could not immediately say what the targets were and had no word of any casualties or damage.
Late Saturday night, IDF troops returned to Jenin and imposed a curfew, only days after Golani troops stationed in the West Bank city had left. Palestinian sources said Saturday that the IDF imposed a curfew on Jenin and its refugee camp, and beefed up forces around the city.