US Votes Against Palestinian Statehood Resolution in the UN Security Council, in Service to the Israeli Occupation Regime

December 31, 2014 

US vetoed the Palestinian bid for statehood at the UN Security Council, December 31, 2014

Supporters of Palestinian Statehood:

China, France, Russia, Argentina, Chad, Chile, Jordan, and Luxembourg. 

Opponents of Palestinian Statehood, in Service of Israel:

The US and Australia.

Those who abstained, in service of Israel:

UK, Lithuania, Nigeria, Korea, and Rwanda.

 

UNSC nixes Palestinian statehood resolution

December 31, 2014,

 NEW YORK, (PIC)--

The UN Security Council (UNSC) has rejected a Palestinian resolution calling for an end to Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories by 2017.

The statehood bid failed to muster the minimum nine "yes" votes required to pass in the council.

The motion received eight "yes" votes, from China, France, Russia, Argentina, Chad, Chile, Jordan, and Luxembourg. Two member states - US and Australia – opposed while the five other members - UK, Lithuania, Nigeria, Korea, and Rwanda – abstained.

The Jordan-backed resolution had called for occupied East Jerusalem as the capital of the two states, the release of Palestinian prisoners, and concluding a peace settlement solving all pending issues including water.

Following the vote, the US, Israel's closest ally, reiterated its opposition to the draft resolution, claiming it neither addresses Palestinians’ nor Israelis’ needs.

Israel’s stance on the bid has been no divergent, considering the resolution a stumbling block in the peace process between the two sides and reiterating firm rebuff of having a specific time frame delineated by a “third party” to end the occupation.

Israel urged several European countries to adopt less stringent timeline to win broader support. Washington wants to wait until after Israeli elections in March.

Samantha Power, the US ambassador to the UN, said the resolution undermined efforts to achieve two states for two people.

"It is deeply imbalanced and contains many elements that are not conducive to negotiations between the parties including unconstructive deadlines that take no account for Israelis legitimate security concerns," she claimed.

Jordan’s representative at the UN, Dina Kawar, said following the vote that Jordan will forever remain at the frontlines at all international forums and platforms to  speak up for Palestinians’ legitimate  rights.

 

UN resolution on Palestine resubmitted with major changes

December 31, 2014,

 NEW YORK, (PIC)--

The modified version of the Palestinian-Arab draft resolution that was resubmitted by Jordan on Monday and would be put to a vote on Tuesday included major changes, according to Anadolu news agency.

The final draft of the resolution includes amendments to the original one filed by Jordan on December 17 regarding issues of political prisoners, illegal settlements, the segregation wall and the status of Jerusalem.

It calls for setting the end of 2017 as the deadline for the Israeli withdrawal from the occupied Palestinian territories.

The revised resolution demands an end to Israeli settlement and wall building and calls for just solutions to the issues of Palestinian refugees, prisoners and water resources.

The new text also calls for the establishment of an independent state of Palestine within the 1967 borders with east Jerusalem as its capital in the presence of security arrangements. The earlier draft mentioned Jerusalem as a shared capital.

However, most of the changes endorsed by the Arab UN delegations on Monday are semantic, such as the word "just" that was added to "a solution" for the issues of Palestinian refugees, prisoners and water. The earlier draft used the term "agreed solution."  

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Palestinian statehood bid fails at UN Security Council as US, Australia vote against

Russia TV,

December 31, 2014, 06:42

The UN Security Council has failed to adopt the Arab coalition’s bid calling for the creation of a Palestinian state and an end to Israeli “occupation”. The veto power US and Australia voted against the move with 5 abstentions.

The draft resolution gathered only 8 votes in favour, so it was automatically defeated. The US however still used its veto power and voted against the resolution. Another veto power state, the UK, along with Lithuania, Nigeria, Korea and Rwanda have abstained from the vote.

"This resolution sets the stage for more division, not for compromise," said US Ambassador Samantha Power, calling the draft a “staged confrontation.”

“The United kingdom supports much of the content of the draft resolution. It is therefore with deep regret that we abstained from it,” said UK ambassador to the UN, Mark Lyall Grant. “We are disappointed that the normal and necessary negotiation did not take place on this occasion.”

However, Russia’s UN envoy Vitaly Churkin said that Moscow “cannot share the objections of those who believe that the draft resolution was undermining the prospects of the negotiating process.”

“Unfortunately last year revealed how this process has gone into a blind alley, with its monopolization by the United States and their pullback from the Quartet [US, EU, UN and Russia]. We believe this to be a strategic mistake,” said Churkin.

“This draft reflects just demands of Arab states, including the Palestinian people, and is in accord with the relevant UN resolutions, the ‘land for peace’ principle, the Arab peace initiative and middle-Eastern peace roadmap. And is also in accord with China’s consistent position. We express deep regret over the failure of the draft resolution to be adopted,” said Liu Jieyi, China’s permanent representative to the United Nations.

Israeli authorities said they are "satisfied" with the failure of the Palestinian statehood bid at UN Security Council.

An official bid for statehood was submitted to the Council Tuesday by a Jordan-led Arab coalition. The bid featured a revised draft resolution of a similar proposal submitted earlier this month. Delegates voted on the measure Tuesday afternoon.

Highly opposed by the US and Israel, the first version of the draft resolution was submitted “in blue” to the UN Security Council last Wednesday. The Council includes five permanent members who hold veto power and ten additional members who serve two-year terms.

The resolution gives 12 months for a “just, lasting and comprehensive peaceful solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which it regards as the creation of a “sovereign and viable” Palestinian state based on 1967 borders, as well as the withdrawal of all Israeli forces from the occupied territory by 2017.

Its text had already seen several amendments that concern East Jerusalem as capital of the future state of Palestine, Israeli settlement building, and Palestinian refugees’ right of return, Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) Executive Committee member Abu Yousef told Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper.

According to the current draft, Jerusalem is regarded as the capital of both Israel and Palestine, but the role of East Jerusalem in a future Palestinian state is not specified. “International legitimacy is our ceiling on this issue, and we cannot drop below this ceiling,” Yousef told the paper.

“I think there is very little doubt that any resolution in the Security Council that actually created a Palestinian state or called for real statehood would be vetoed,” US activist and journalist Phyllis Bennis told RT. “I think there is a big question whether the drafts that are now circulating actually do that. The French amendments in particular significantly weaken the idea that this is something that would actually create the Palestinian state.”

Bennis explained that “there is no consequence named. The resolution is not taken under either Chapter 6 or Chapter 7, which are the coercive chapters of the UN charter.” These chapters imply the use of military force and putting pressure against the state, such as sanctions.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Tuesday his administration would"no longer deal"with Israel in case of the resolution's failure. "If the Arab-Palestinian initiative submitted to the Security Council to put an end to [Israeli] occupation doesn't pass, we will be forced to take the necessary political and legal decisions," the Algerian APS news agency quoted Abbas as saying.

Last Thursday, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman called a UN bid for Palestinian statehood an “act of aggression.”

“Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is adopting measures whose sole aim is to attack Israel, with no benefit for the Palestinians,” Lieberman said in a statement.

This summer, tensions in Jerusalem and the West Bank escalated, leading to the 50-day conflict between the Israel Defense Forces and Palestinians. Operation Protective Edge claimed over 2,200 lives – most of them Gaza civilians.  

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