US thwarts UN statement on Hebron’s TIPH monitors

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The United States blocked a draft United Nations Security Council statement on Wednesday that would have expressed regret at Israel’s decision to eject a foreign observer force from the flashpoint city of Hebron, diplomats said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last week that he would not renew the mandate of the Temporary International Presence in Hebron (TIPH), accusing the observers of anti-Israel activity.

Tensions between TIPH and the 800-member Jewish community in Hebron came to a head this summer after a staff member slashed the tire of a Jewish-owned vehicle in Hebron, and then the mission’s legal counsel slapped a 10-year-old Jewish child. TIPH apologized and both staff members left the organization and the country.

Norway, which has headed the multi-country observer mission for the past 22 years, said: “The one-sided Israeli decision can mean that the implementation of an important part of the Oslo accords is discontinued.”

The 15-member UN Security Council discussed Israel’s decision behind closed doors on Wednesday at the request of Kuwait and Indonesia, which also drafted the statement. Such a statement has to be agreed by consensus.

UN diplomats said the United States did not believe a council statement on the issue was appropriate.

The draft statement, seen by Reuters, would have also recognized the importance of TIPH and its “efforts to foster calm in a highly sensitive area and fragile situation on the ground, which risks further deteriorating.” The US has long accused the United Nations of anti-Israel bias and shields its ally from Security Council action.

TIPH was set up after a Jewish settler went on a shooting spree in 1994, killing 29 Palestinian worshipers at Hebron’s Cave of the Machpela – a shrine holy to both Jews and Muslims. The city has also seen stabbing and shooting attacks by Palestinians against settlers and IDF soldiers.

Since Israel partially withdrew from Hebron in 1998 under interim peace deals with the self-rule Palestinian Authority, TIPH has monitored “breaches of the agreements [and] violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law,” the force’s website says.

Peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians collapsed in 2014. Most world powers consider Israel’s settlements in the West Bank, on territory captured by Israel in the 1967 war, to be illegal. Israel disputes that, citing biblical, historical and political ties to the land.