THE United States late yesterday vetoed a Security Council resolution drafted by its European Union allies calling on Israel to abandon plans to build a new Jewish neighbourhood in mostly Arab East Jerusalem.
The Palestinians then called for an "emergency session" of the UN General Assembly after the Washington veto.
Palestine's observer to the United Nations, Nasser Al-Kidwa, announced the move in a speech to the Council following the vote.
The vote was 14 in favour, with only the US voting against. As one of the council's five permanent members, its negative vote killed the resolution, drafted by Britain, France, Portugal and Sweden.
The veto followed a council debate on Wednesday and Thursday in which virtually all of nearly 50 speakers condemned Israel's plan to build 6,500 homes for Jews on a tree-covered hill between East Jerusalem and Bethlehem that Israel captured during the 1967 Middle East war. The site is called Har Homa by Israel and Jabal Abu Ghneim by the Palestinians. Israel regards the entire city of Jerusalem as its undivided capital, while the Palestinians see East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state.
The US ambassador to the UN, Mr Bill Richardson, criticised the Israeli action, saying it undermined trust and confidence so badly needed in the Middle East peace process.
The veto was the 71st by the US in the 52-year history of the United Nations. It was the first cast by Mr Richardson, who last month succeeded Ms Madeleine Albright, now US Secretary of State.
The council resolution would have called on "the Israeli authorities to refrain from all actions or measures, including settlement activities, which alter the facts on the ground, pre-empting the final status negotiations, and have negative implications for the Middle East peace process
It would also have called on Israel to abide scrupulously by its obligations under the Fourth Geneva Convention on the protection of civilians in time of war, which bars settlements in occupied territory, and would have urged all parties to press ahead with the peace process.
The last US veto was in May 1995, to block a resolution calling on Israel to rescind the expropriation of 131 acres (53 hectares) of Arab land in East Jerusalem.