PALESTINIANS-ISRAEL/UN REAX Palestinians criticise UN Security Council for rejecting statehood bid

Record ID: 398889

  • Title: PALESTINIANS-ISRAEL/UN REAX Palestinians criticise UN Security Council for rejecting statehood bid
  • Date: 31st December 2014
  • Summary: RAMALLAH, WEST BANK (DECEMBER 31, 2014) (REUTERS) FATAH SPOKESPERSON, AHMED ASSAF, WALKING PICTURE OF JERUSALEM'S DOME OF THE ROCK (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) FATAH SPOKESPERSON, AHMED ASSAF, SAYING: "Unfortunately, the Security Council failed in approving the draft resolution calling for the end of Israeli occupation under a time frame. (It happened) because the Security Council
  • Embargoed: 15th January 2015 12:00
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  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAAK3TTSAEZRUOV8OMPMSB371OR
  • Story Text: Palestinian officials criticized on Wednesday (December 31) the rejection by the U.N. Security Council of a Palestinian resolution calling for an Israeli withdrawal from the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem and the establishment of a Palestinian state by late 2017.
    The resolution called for negotiations to be based on territorial lines that existed before Israel captured the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Middle East war. It also called for a peace deal within 12 months.
    Even if the draft had received the minimum nine votes in favour, it would have been defeated by Washington's vote against it. The United States is one of the five veto-wielding permanent members.
    There were eight votes in favour, including France, Russia and China, two against and five abstentions, among them Britain. Australia joined the United States in voting against the measure.
    "Unfortunately, the Security Council failed in approving the draft resolution calling for the end of Israeli occupation under a time frame. (It happened) because the Security Council failed in protecting its goals on which it was founded and its principles which it usually propagates. (It happened) because there is a great power in this world set to protect and support the Israeli occupation which represents the highest level of terrorism," said in Ramallah Ahmed Assaf, the spokesman of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement.
    The defeat of the resolution was not surprising. Washington, council diplomats said, had made clear it did not want such a resolution put to a vote before Israel's election in March.
    The Palestinians, the diplomats said, insisted on putting the resolution to a vote despite the fact that it was clear Washington would not let it pass. Their sudden announcement last weekend that Ramallah wanted a vote before the new year surprised Western delegations on the council.
    In order to pass, a resolution needs nine votes in favour and no vetoes from the council's five permanent members.
    The European and African camps were split in the vote. France and Luxembourg voted in favour of the resolution while Britain and Lithuania abstained. Among the Africans, Chad voted yes while Rwanda and Nigeria abstained.
    The Palestinians, frustrated by the lack of progress in peace talks, have sought to internationalize the issue by seeking U.N. membership and recognition of statehood via membership in international organizations.
    "President Abu Mazen announced to the entire world that if the draft resolution fails, we will join all the international conventions, firstly the international Criminal Court. The Palestinian people will not wait long before it sees these important decisions taken by the leadership who will meet later this evening," Assaf said.
    An earlier Palestinian draft called for Jerusalem to be the shared capital of Israel and a Palestinian state. The draft that was voted on reverted to a harder line, saying only that East Jerusalem would be Palestine's capital and calling for an end to Israeli settlement building.
    The Israeli government had said that a Security Council vote, following the collapse in April of U.S.-brokered talks on Palestinian statehood, would only deepen the conflict.
    The spokesperson of the Israeli foreign ministry praised the resolution's rejection by the Security Council.
    The rejection by the Security Council of the Palestinian initiative is a victory for common sense. The Palestinian initiative submitted to the Security Council was absolutely not useful in order to promote the peace process or the return to negotiations. It was termed in a very extremist way and in a way which could certainly not be accepted neither by Israel nor by the international community," said Emanuel Nachshon in Jerusalem.
    "We hope that the Palestinians understand that the only way to move forward with the peace process is by negotiating with Israel and not by continuing this unilateral strategy. The Palestinian strategy will bring them nowhere and it is extremely harmful to the capacity to reach peace between Israel and the Palestinians," he added.
    Israel, which pulled troops and settlers out of the Gaza Strip in 2005, has said its eastern border would be indefensible if it withdrew completely from the West Bank.
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