UNITED NATIONS, Mar 7 (APP): Libya blocked the UN Security Council Thursday from issuing a condemnation of an attack that killed eight Jewish religious students in occupied Jerusalem, arguing that the 15-member body must also condemn Israeli attacks in Gaza, diplomats said. At least four other council members backed the stand taken by Libya, the only Arab member on the council, they said.

Libya had demanded a “balanced” presidential statement on the Jerusalem incident that would also condemn the killing of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip by Israeli forces. Such a statement, which is a step short of a resolution, requires the consent of all members.

“I can only regret that the council has not been able to reach an agreement,” said Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, the council’s president for this month, after attending an emergency council meeting.

Churkin said that there was a clear division in the 15-member panel because some members were “in favour of focusing on this particular terrorist attack (while) others chose to take a broader view of the situation.”

US and Israeli ambassadors blamed Libya for blocking the council from taking action on this “terrorist act.”

The US ambassador to the UN Zalmay Khalilzad said the obstruction undermines the council’s effectiveness in the region.

“What happened today was clearly a terrorist act,” he told reporters after the council’s nearly two-hour session. “We regret that this makes it difficult for the council to contribute positively to developments in this region, but those who blocked this possibility bear responsibility for that.”

In an angry reaction to the council deadlock, Israeli Ambassador to UN Dan Gillerman used strong words against Libya, describing it as a “terrorist country” that brought “ Lockerbie.”

He was referring to the blowing up of a US airliner reportedly by Libyan agents in 1988 that claimed a total of 270 lives over the southern Scottish town of Lockerbie.

“Unfortunately, this is what happens when the Security Council is infiltrated by terrorists,” Gillerman said angrily. “It brings into question the legitimacy of such a country not just being in the Security Council but being a member of the United Nations.”

In a hard-hitting rejoinder, Libya’s deputy UN representative Ibrahim al-Dabbashi responded, “We don’t need a certificate of good conduct from the Israeli terrorist regime or its representative here.”

He said four or five members, including Libya, insisted “on taking a balanced action condemning the killings in Gaza as well as the killings in Jerusalem.”