Veto No. 5

During seven weeks of debate, U.S. Ambassador John A. Scali maneuvered to keep an anti-Israel resolution from coming to a vote in the U.N. Security Council. Inspired by Egypt, the resolution in effect said that Israel's continued occupation of the territories it had won in the Six-Day War was illegal.

Scali argued that passage of the resolution could only exacerbate Middle East tensions, since Israel clearly has no intention of giving up the territories without negotiations with the Arab states. Despite Scali's efforts, the majority of the council last week endorsed the resolution--whereupon Scali vetoed it. It was only the fifth time in the U.N.'s 27-year history that the U.S. Government had resorted to this ultimate weapon in the Security Council.

The draft resolution was supported by 13 of the council's 15 members, including Britain and France, who buy the bulk of their oil from Arab states. China considered it too soft, and abstained. Scali rejected it as "highly partisan and unbalanced." He contended that if passed it would have "undermined the one agreed basis on which a settlement in the Middle East could be constructed," namely the 1967 U.N. Resolution 242, which provides for Israel's withdrawal linked to the establishment of "recognized and secure boundaries."

Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Hassan Zayyat, who led the drive to get the resolution to a vote, complained after the U.S. veto that "regardless of what you think is legal ... you will not be able to do anything because no matter what force you have, Israel will be put in a position to frustrate you"--which neatly summed up the stalemate.

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