By
The Associated Press
UNITED NATIONS - Security Council negotiators reached tentative agreement yesterday on a resolution calling for an immediate end to all Israeli-Palestinian violence and protection for Palestinian civilians.
After four days of marathon talks that dragged into the early morning hours yesterday, the key players produced a draft text. But diplomats said there were still a few issues where the Palestinian and Israeli supporters had not quite closed the gap.
Nonetheless, after earlier pessimism, diplomats said there was a strong feeling among the 15 Security Council members that these last few issues should not - and would not - block a final agreement.
The latest draft makes no mention of a U.N. observer force to protect Palestinian civilians, which the Palestinians had been demanding and Israel opposes. Instead, it expresses the council's readiness "to set up a protection mechanism, bearing in mind the needs of the Palestinian civilians."
Bangladesh's U.N. Ambassador Anwarul Chowdhury, head of the Non-Aligned Movement of developing countries on the council which strongly backs the Palestinians, said such a mechanism could take many forms - and "does not preclude the possibility of an observer force."
The United States, Israel's closest council ally, threatened to veto any resolution calling for an international force. Diplomats said the United States still had several problems with the text, but there was now hope that Washington would abstain on the resolution, not veto it.
