TG4 TV PC to TV
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has condemned the United States for vetoing a draft resolution that would have granted Palestinians full membership of the global body.
During a meeting of the Security Council yesterday evening, a draft resolution recommending to the General Assembly that “the State of Palestine be admitted to membership of the United Nations” received 12 votes in favour and two abstentions.
But the single no vote cast by the United States defeated the move.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said in a statement that the US move was “unfair, unethical, and unjustified.”
Palestinian UN Ambassador Riyad Mansour, at times emotional, told the council after the vote: “The fact that this resolution did not pass will not break our will and it will not defeat our determination. We will not stop in our effort.”
Hamas condemned the US stance in a statement and called on the international community to “support the struggle of our Palestinian people and their legitimate right to determine their destiny.”
The Palestinian push for full UN membership came six months into a war between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas in Gaza, and as Israel is expanding settlements in the occupied West Bank, which the UN considers to be illegal.
Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz commended the US for casting a veto.
Addressing the 12 council members who voted in favor of the draft resolution, Israel’s UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan said: “It’s very sad because your vote will only embolden Palestinian rejectionism even more and make peace almost impossible.”
“The United States continues to strongly support a two-state solution. This vote does not reflect opposition to Palestinian statehood, but instead is an acknowledgment that it will only come from direct negotiations between the parties,” Deputy US Ambassador to the UN Robert Wood told the council.
The Palestinians are currently a non-member observer state, a de facto recognition of statehood that was granted by the UN General Assembly in 2012.
However, an application to become a full U.N. member needs to be approved by the Security Council and then at least two-thirds of the General Assembly.
“We believe that such recognition of Palestinian statehood should not come at the start of a new process, but it doesn’t have to be at the very end of the process. We must start with fixing the immediate crisis in Gaza,” Britain’s UN Ambassador Barbara Woodward told the council.
The UN Security Council has long endorsed a vision of two states living side by side within secure and recognised borders.
Palestinians want a state in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip, all territory captured by Israel in 1967.
Source link
