(Recasts, adds U.S. and Russian ambassadors) By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS, March 6 (Reuters) - The United States accused Libya on Thursday of preventing the Security Council from condemning as a "terrorist attack" a deadly assault on a Jewish school in Jerusalem, but Tripoli called for "balanced action". The United States had drafted a statement that was discussed at an emergency U.N. Security Council session, called to debate an attack by a Palestinian gunman who killed at least eight people and wounded more at an Israeli religious school. "The members of the Security Council condemn in the strongest terms the terrorist attack that took place in Jerusalem March 6, 2008 which resulted in the death and injury of dozens of Israeli civilians," said the draft statement. The U.S. delegation had hoped the 15-nation council would unanimously support the text but Libya, backed by several other council members, prevented its adoption. "We were not able to come to an agreement because the Libyan delegation with the support of one or two others did not want to condemn this act by itself but wanted to link it to other issues," U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Zalmay Khalilzad, told reporters after the council meeting. The Libyans wanted to include in the statement language condemning the recent Israeli incursions into Gaza, which have killed over 120 Palestinians, many of them civilians. Khalilzad rejected this. He said killing students in a school was different from the unintentional killing of civilians, as was the case with Gaza. Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin agreed, saying: "To see people walk into a religious school and open fire on the students there, that is really something which should give one pause, especially those who care about religion." He said the attack by a Palestinian gunman who killed at least eight people and wounded others was a "clear cut individual act of terrorism specifically targeted against civilians." "BALANCED ACTION" A member of the Libyan delegation, speaking to reporters after the meeting, said the council should not speak about the Jerusalem attack while ignoring the Gaza situation. "If the council should take any action, it should be a balanced action and should condemn the killing in Gaza as well as the killing in Jerusalem," the Libyan envoy said. Israel's enemy Libya is one of the 15 Security Council members. It was elected to the council last year, after Washington dropped its objections, and joined it in January. Libya had objected over the weekend to the use of the word "terrorism" to describe Palestinian rocket attacks against Israel in a draft council statement expressing concern about the violence in Gaza. Israel has said the rocket attacks were the reason for the incursion and its decision in January to close all of its border crossings into Gaza. The Palestinian militant group Hamas seized control of Gaza in June 2007. (Editing by Stuart Grudgings)
A member of the Israeli emergency service Zaka examines a Jewish religious school after a shooting in Jerusalem March 6, 2008, in this picture released by Zaka. A Palestinian gunman opened ...
