Israel's Power in the US Senate

On March 20, 1980 Secretary of State Cyrus Vance appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to explain to its members how a mistake in communications had led to the US affirmative vote on the UN Security Council resolution which condemned Israel's settlements policy and called for the dismantling of existing settlements, including those in Jerusalem. The vote at the UN had taken place on March 1, and had been followed by a statement issued by the President from the White House disavowing it and saying that the call for dismantling the settlements was "neither proper nor practical." Secretary Vance, through State Department spokesman Hodding Carter, accepted the responsibility for the "foul-up" in communications.

Ghassan Bishara is Washington correspondent of al-Fajr (Jerusalem).