US vetoes UN Arafat resolution

The US was the only country to vote against the resolution

The United States has vetoed a draft resolution at the UN Security Council denouncing Israel's decision to "remove" the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat.

US Ambassador to the UN John Negroponte said the resolution was "flawed" because it did not include a "robust condemnation of acts of terrorism".

The draft resolution, backed by Arab states, demanded that Israel "desist from any act of deportation and cease any threat to the safety of the elected president of the Palestinian Authority".

It followed a statement by Israel's security cabinet last week denouncing Mr Arafat as an "obstacle to peace" and saying he should be removed - although the cabinet did not say how or when it would do so.

And at the weekend Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert added that his government had not ruled out killing Mr Arafat.

BBC United Nations correspondent Greg Barrow says efforts to bridge differences between opposing sides came to nought, leaving diplomats to mull over the repeated failures of the Security Council to make a useful intervention in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Toned down

During a harsh debate at the UN, more than 40 governments condemned the Israeli position.

I hope that Israel will not interpret the resolution as a licence to kill President Arafat Saeb Erekat Palestinian negotiator

Israeli ambassador to the UN Dan Gillerman on Monday denounced the Palestinian leader as a "professional terrorist", prompting the Palestinian representative to walk out of the session.

The resolution put to the UN Security Council on Tuesday, which was sponsored by Syria, demanded that Israel would not harm or deport Mr Arafat.

Syria modified some of the resolution's language in an attempt to broaden support for the measure and avoid a US veto.

It added a phrase expressing "grave concern" at the recent rise in violence and condemning both suicide bombings and Israel's targeted assassinations of Palestinian militants for causing "enormous suffering and many innocent victims".

But Ambassador Negroponte said the resolution should have explicitly condemned militant groups including Hamas and the al-Aqsa brigades.

Loan guarantees

The US was the only one of the 15 countries on the Security Council to oppose the resolution.

ARAFAT'S TRAVELS 1957: Left Egypt for Kuwait, after graduating 1968: To Jordan, directed raids into Israel 1970: Forced from Jordan and moved to Lebanon 1982: Left Lebanon following Israeli invasion 1982-94: Mainly based in Tunis with PLO leaders 1993: Signed Oslo Accords in Washington 1994: To Gaza, to set up Palestinian Authority 2001-03: Confined to his Ramallah HQ Arafat's driving ambition Draft resolution in full

Eleven other members approved the text, while Britain, Germany and Bulgaria abstained.

Commenting on the vote, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told Reuters news agency he hoped Israel would not use the US veto as a "licence to kill".

Meanwhile in Washington, the US administration said it would reduce loan guarantees to Israel, deducting the amount the Israelis had spent on expanding Jewish settlements on the West Bank.

Under US law, the guarantees may support only activities in areas Israel held before the 1967 war, State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said.

And, he said, the settlement construction is inconsistent with objectives and understandings between the US and Israel.

Mr Powell is to decide how much of the $9bn in guarantees will be withheld.