U.S. CALLS DRAFT U.N. MID-EAST STATEMENT "UNBALANCED"

U.S. Calls Draft UN Statement on Mideast "Unbalanced"
Acting U.S. Ambassador to the UN Alejandro Wolff called an Indonesian draft UN statement on the Middle East Tuesday "an unbalanced snapshot of the situation." "We have Israelis retaliating to terrorist attacks. We've got a security vacuum as a result of the military conflict between Hamas and Fatah in the Palestinian territories....The Israelis have every right to defend their citizens, and so without some sense of context or reference, this sort of one-sided statement does not contribute to the effort to promote peace and security and stability in the region. On the contrary, it makes people think that the United Nations can't view this issue objectively." (AP/International Herald Tribune)