Middle East: A Harsh Rebuke for Israel

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The U.S. backs a U.N. resolution criticizing its ally

When the time came, she raised her hand so tentatively that for a moment there was some doubt in the chamber as to how she was going to vote. But Jeane Kirkpatrick, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, did indeed vote yes last week, thereby joining in one of the harshest United Nations rebukes of Israel that the U.S. had ever supported.

Kirkpatrick's hesitancy in the Security Council reflected the ambivalent approach of the Reagan Administration toward the problem of censuring Israel for the bombing raid on Iraq's Tammuz nuclear reactor. Eloquently recalling the "strength of U.S. ties and commitment to Israel and the warmth of our feelings," Kirkpatrick admitted that the draft was "not a perfect resolution." But she added that Washington had been "shocked" by the Israelis' launching a raid before peaceful approaches had been exhausted. Replied Israeli Ambassador Yehuda Blum: "Israel unreservedly rejects the biased and one-sided resolution just adopted by the council." Then he added with heavy sarcasm, "Israel will treat this resolution with the respect it so richly deserves."

The wording of the resolution had been personally hammered out by Kirkpatrick and Iraqi Foreign Minister Saadoun Hammadi during three days of intense negotiations. Iraq had wanted to include a call for sanctions against Israel, but the U.S. made it clear that it would use its veto if they were mentioned. Instead, the approved resolution "strongly condemns" Israel for its raid on the reactor and urges it to pay damages to Iraq, which was "entitled to appropriate redress for the destruction it has suffered." There is nothing that could compel Israel to make such restitution, however, and Blum had already told the council that his government would not pay Iraq "a brass farthing" for destroying the reactor.

The resolution also in effect rejected Israel's rationale that it had destroyed the reactor because the government had learned that the Iraqis were about to use it to make atomic bombs to attack Israel. The text pointed out that Iraq had accepted the International Atomic Energy Agency's inspection safeguards and urged Israel to open its own nuclear facilities to IAEA inspectors. Unlike Iraq, Israel has not signed the nuclear nonproliferation treaty, which would require it to allow visits by the IAEA. Israel argues that the treaty is meaningless unless peace is established in the Middle East and fears that the international inspectors could acquire a dangerous degree of access to key security areas.

In the aftermath of the Israeli raid, U.S. policy became a high-wire act aimed on the one hand at preserving the U.S. position with moderate Arab countries and on the other hand at demonstrating both displeasure with and support for Israel. "Making the best we could of a terrible situation," as a senior White House official put it, Washington agreed to the strong language in the U.N. resolution to placate Arab anger. Said the official: "We worked very, very hard on the wording of this resolution in order to maintain a dialogue and our credibility with the moderate Arabs. We also wanted to recognize that we have interests in the Middle East that go beyond Israel."