Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo said yesterday that the reference to a Palestinian state "represents a defeat for the policy of [Israeli Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon."
"There is a need now for direct international intervention to implement this resolution through ending the Israeli occupation and evacuating all the Israeli settlements" from Palestinian lands, Rabbo said.
Israel would now like Zinni's mission to be successful "and to achieve a ceasefire with the Palestinians which will undoubtedly create a positive atmosphere" to start the steps outlined by CIA director George Tenet and recommendations from former US Senator George Mitchell to return to negotiations.
The Syrian draft resolution, which was never put to a vote, referred to Israel as "the occupying power" and called for it to abide by the Fourth Geneva Convention, which governs the protection of civilians during occupation.
Israel claims the land is disputed, not occupied, and maintains the convention does not apply. The US, Israel's closest council ally, dropped the reference to Israeli occupation and the Geneva convention.
Neither the US nor the Syrian draft mentioned outside observers to help calm the situation, something Israel opposes.
The Security Council early Tuesday listened to Secretary-General Kofi Annan urge Palestinians to halt "morally repugnant" acts of terror and suicide bombings and Israelis to end their "illegal occupation" of Palestinian territory and stop using excessive force.
Calling the current fighting the worst in a decade, Annan welcomed the US decision to send Zinni back to the region and urged Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to back his efforts to renew the peace process.
"You can still lead your people away from disaster," Annan said, noting that in the last 10 days, over 150 Palestinians and about 50 Israelis have died. He also called on the Security Council "to lend its full authority and influence to the vital cause of peace."
UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said he believed it was the first time that Annan had called Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory "illegal."
Dore Gold, former Israeli ambassador to the UN and spokesman for the Sharon government, said said Annan's characterization of Israel's presence in the Palestinian territories as "illegal" is "inconsistent with Israel's stated willingness to resolve its territorial differences with the Palestinians under UN Security Council resolutions 242 and 338," which call for a withdrawal from territory that Israel captured in the wars of 1967 and 1973.
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