Palestinians voiced fears that the U.S. veto of a U.N. resolution demanding that Israel not harm or expel Yasser Arafat could be seen by Israeli leaders as a license to kill him.

The Security Council vote on Tuesday followed Israel's dismissal of a cease-fire call by the Palestinian president's national security adviser, Jibril Rajoub.

Israel said that instead of pursuing a truce, Arafat's Palestinian Authority should hunt down militants as mandated by a U.S.-backed peace plan known as the road map.

"It's a black day for the United Nations and for international law," chief Palestinian peace negotiator Saeb Erekat told Reuters after the vote. "I hope that Israel will not interpret the resolution as a license to kill President Arafat."

After back-to-back suicide bombings killed 15 Israelis last week, Israel touched off an international outcry by announcing a decision "to remove" Arafat, without saying how or when.

Dore Gold, an adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, accused members of the Security Council anxious to protect Arafat, 74, of ignoring such violence against Israelis.

Israel has called Arafat an obstacle to peace and charged he has encouraged bloodshed in a three-year-old Palestinian uprising for statehood, allegations he denies.

Israeli Vice Premier Ehud Olmert said on Sunday that killing Arafat was an option, along with expulsion from the Palestinian territories or isolation at his headquarters in Ramallah, a West Bank city where the Israeli army has roadblocks and patrols.

Eleven Security Council members voted in favor of the resolution, while Britain, Germany and Bulgaria abstained after hours of consultations failed to lead to a compromise acceptable to both the United States and Syria, the resolution's sponsor.

"Israel found itself in an Orwellian situation by which its war on terrorism was to be judged in a Security Council resolution sponsored by Syria, one of the main state supporters of terrorism in the world," Gold told Reuters.

Palestinians say Israel's campaign to kill militant leaders only fuels a cycle of violence.

Militant groups that declared a cease-fire on June 29 canceled the truce seven weeks later after Israel killed a senior Hamas political leader in a missile strike that followed a suicide bombing which killed 23 people in Jerusalem.

Asked about Rajoub's truce call, aides to Sharon referred to a security cabinet statement last week on Arafat which ruled out a cease-fire as a way to "fight terror."

Close

Today's Top News		Top International News
+Nation to boost high-tech industries ( 2003-09-17) +Reports of border troop massing baseless ( 2003-09-17) +`Keep yuan stable', Forbes said in Shanghai ( 2003-09-17) +Drought, environmental pollution plague Chinese cities ( 2003-09-17) +Future aircraft needs 'colossal' ( 2003-09-17)		+Canada House defeats motion against gay marriage ( 2003-09-17) +Schroeder, Chirac, Blair to try to heal Iraq rift ( 2003-09-17) +US veto of UN Arafat plea alarms Palestinians ( 2003-09-17) +Canadians pan government-backed Marijuana ( 2003-09-16) +Blast kills three in Japan hostage incident ( 2003-09-16)