US Vetoes World Calls for Middle East Ceasefire- Twice

U.S. Vetoes U.N. Condemnation of Israel, Demanding Ceasefire in Gaza

UNITED NATIONS -- The United States blocked an Arab-backed resolution Thursday that would have demanded Israel halt its military offensive in the Gaza Strip, the first U.N. Security Council veto in nearly two years.

The draft, sponsored by Qatar on behalf of other Arab nations, accused Israel of a "disproportionate use of force" that endangered Palestinian civilians, and demanded Israel withdraw its troops from Gaza.

The United States was alone in voting against the resolution. Ten of the 15 Security Council nations voted in favor, while Britain, Denmark, Peru and Slovakia abstained.

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UN team in Lebanon calls for ceasefire

BEIRUT - A UN team entrusted to negotiate a truce between Israel and Hezbollah called on Sunday for an end to hostilities, the protection of civilians and the release of Israeli soldiers captured by the Lebanese Shia militant group.

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US vetoes UN ceasefire call (Lebanon)
US against the World, two solo votes in three days... even our old ally Great Britain can't vote with us- why not?

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Light of Beirut fades on its darkest day

LEBANON has no air defences to speak of - no fighter planes or long-range surface-to-air missiles - so the Israeli Air Force can carve it up at its leisure.

The bombs come without warning, day and night, ripping through buildings, roads, offices, homes and refugee convoys.

Only afterwards do the shocked survivors hear the whisper of the jets, high above the reach of any ground fire, invisible in the summer haze.

At night you can see the fighter bombers: so confident are the pilots of their impunity that they pass over Beirut with their navigation lights on.

After four days of retaliation, the Israeli Government's tally stood at: a member of the Hezbollah militia, which started the whole business with its border raid last Wednesday, a bunch of Hezbollah offices and homes and more than 100 innocent men, women and children.

This was a reply to the deaths in action of 12 Israeli military personnel and four civilians, including a eight-year-old boy, killed by Hezbollah in subsequent exchanges of long-range fire.