Cablegate: Voting Instructions and Eov for Agenda Item 54:

VZCZCXYZ0020
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHC #4396 3402333
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 062315Z DEC 07
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 9914

UNCLAS STATE 164396

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: UNGA PREL SENV LE IS
SUBJECT: VOTING INSTRUCTIONS AND EOV FOR AGENDA ITEM 54:
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: OIL SLICK ON LEBANESE SHORES

1. Mission is instructed to call for a vote and vote "no"
on A/C.2/62/L.21 - Oil Slick on Lebanese Shores and deliver
the Explanation of Vote (EOV) in paragraph 2.

2. Begin EOV text:

Mr./Madam Chairperson,

The United States cannot support this resolution.

The resolution's language is one-sided and unbalanced,
placing demands on one party to the conflict while failing to
even acknowledge the role of those responsible for initiating
the hostilities in Lebanon in July 2006. It was Hizballah
that provoked the conflict with its July 12 incursion into
Israel and nowhere is that fact acknowledged in this
resolution.

The United States acknowledges the serious pollution
resulting from the destruction of oil storage tanks in the
vicinity of the Lebanese El-Jiyeh electrical power plant, and
continues to support the Lebanese government in its
reconstruction efforts following this conflict.

However, the Second Committee has important responsibilities
and should not be used to advance one-sided and unbalanced
views on this matter.

It is particularly inappropriate for the Second Committee to
take a position on Israel's responsibilities regarding
compensation for damage caused during the course of an armed
conflict.
RICE

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