The resolution failed to get the 9 votes in favor with 5 abstentions and two NO votes: the US and Australia. Only Al Jazeera had a LIVE broadcast of this crucial UN vote. President Bush promised the Palestinians statehood by 2005 when PM Ariel Sharon evacuated settlements out of Gaza. Of course, the US negated on its promise. Under President Obama, more of the same and effectively a worsening conditions for the Palestinian people under Israel occupation. Kerry was deeply involved during the last 48 hours to find sufficient opposition against the Jordanian initiative. The 5 states who abstained were: United Kingdom, Lithuania, Rwanda, Korea and ?? .
UPDATE: The resolution failed to achieve the 9-votes majority required to pass. Eight countries voted in favor of the motion – China, France, Russia, Argentina, Chad, Chile, Jordan, Luxembourg – two opposed – US and Australia – and five abstained – UK, Lithuania, Nigeria, Korea, Rwanda.
US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power said in comments after the vote that: “Instead of giving voice to the aspirations of both Palestinians and Israelis, this text addresses only one side.”
UN Security Council votes against Palestinian statehood | Al Jazeera |
The UN Security Council has rejected a Palestinian resolution calling for peace with Israel within a year and an end to Israel’s occupation by 2017. The resolution failed to muster the minimum nine “yes” votes required in the council for adoption.
The United States, Israel’s closest ally, had reiterated its opposition to the draft resolution earlier on Tuesday. Washington said it could not support the draft because it was not constructive and failed to address Israel’s security needs.
The resolution had called for occupied East Jerusalem to be the capital of Palestine, an end to Israeli settlement building and settling the issue of Palestinian prisoner releases.
The resolution also called for negotiations to be based on territorial lines that existed before Israel captured the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in 1967.
Israel had said the Security Council vote, following the collapse in April of US-brokered talks on Palestinian statehood, would deepen the conflict.
The Palestinians, frustrated by the lack of progress on peace talks, have sought to internationalise the issue by seeking UN membership and recognition of statehood via membership in international organisations.
The United States has said they would not support the latest Palestinian-Arab draft resolution, citing differences over how to achieve the shared goal of a negotiating a two-state solution.
“As we’ve said before, this draft resolution is not something that we would support and other countries share the same concerns that we have,” said State Department Spokesperson Jake Rathke yesterday hours before Jordan gave the resolution to the secretariat. Rathke continued, “We think it sets arbitrary deadlines for reaching a peace agreement and for Israel’s withdrawal from the West Bank, and those are more likely to curtail useful negotiations than to bring them to a successful conclusion.”
“Further, we think that the resolution fails to account for Israel’s legitimate security needs, and the satisfaction of those needs, of course, is integral to a sustainable settlement.” The State Department’s comments mark a departure from previous remarks where Secretary of State John Kerry has said the U.S. could not support a Palestinian resolution if the text called for “unilateral” action to achieve an independent Palestinian state.
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