Dispute keeps Security Council from condemning Netanya attack [View All]

The UN Security Council failed to agree on Tuesday on a statement condemning the suicide bombing in Netanya, after a dispute between the United States and Algeria, the only Arab council member, made approving the resolution impossible.

The statement, similar to one adopted by the so-called quartet of advisers to the Middle East peace process, would have "unequivocally" condemned the blast. It also would have urged Syria to close the offices of Islamic Jihad, which claimed responsibility for Monday's bombing that killed five Israelis and injured more than 50 people.

U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said Algeria would not approve the statement, "and we are simply not going to accept the watering down of Security Council press statements."

Algerian Ambassador Abdallah Baali, on the other hand, accused the American envoy of being "totally inaccurate and unfair."

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