Does the US veto show its approval for Arafat's removal?

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A question Yvonne Gomez posed to Dr Glen Barclay from the Australian National University in Canberra...

GB: The reasons are completely irrelevant. I think the fact of the matter is that the Israelis have always said that they've got a proxy vote in the United Nations, which is of course, the United States. That is due entirely to two things. First of all, Israel has been a great strategic asset to the United States - it's also been a great strategic liability. Israel has been able to give, covertly, support, training and equipment to right-wing forces throughout the world, which is convenient for the United States and for Israel to do. The other thing is, of course, that there's an extremely powerful Jewish lobby in the United States. There's also, perhaps even more importantly, the combination of the Protestant Christian Right, which is certainly dominant in United States politics, and completely committed to Israel. So those are the real reasons - a) domestic pressure from the religious Christian Right in the United States, and b) the fact that it has useful for the United States to have Israel as a sort of proxy ally. Now, although the US representative in the Security Council has said that the US's opposition doesn't support the elimination of Arafat or his exile, do you think it is, in fact, tacit approval for Israel to go ahead and kill Arafat now?...

GB: I don't think it is. I think the American position is completely incoherent, if you like. There's no doubt at all that the greatest service that Arafat could do to the Palestinian cause, is to get himself assassinated by the Israelis. This would expose Israel to so much international condemnation, that perhaps even the United States would have to rethink its position. So, the Americans don't want - I presume they don't want - (Ariel) Sharon to assassinate or take any direct action against Arafat. At the same time, they don't want to be seen opposing
Israel publicly. It's quite inconsistent and contradictory, but that's the situation....

GB: In the first place, we'd have to see what the Israelis actually do. There's no doubt about Sharon's own position. Sharon is aiming at the total military occupation of the occupied territories. The Americans are hoping that he doesn't actually do this, but at the same time, are not prepared to do anything effective to stop him. It's impossible to know what the Israeli action will be. But there is certainly no doubt of reaction of the Islamic world. I think one can speak of the Islamic world in the sense that it does certainly provide further evidence that yes, indeed, the United States is so committed to the support of Israel, that it has to be regarded as essentially hostile to the Palestinian cause. So by definition, nothing can be done.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/cna/analysis/030917_arafat.htm