UN Security Council rejects Palestinian draft resolution

The UN Security Council has not adopted a draft resolution on the terms of creation of a Palestinian state and to end the Israeli occupation.

The draft resolution did not receive the support of 9 out of 15 member-states of the council. Eight countries voted in favor of the motion – Russia, Argentina, Jordan, China, Luxembourg, France, Chad, Chile. Two opposed – the US and Australia – and five abstained – the UK, Lithuania, Nigeria, Korea, Rwanda.

The final version of the document, which was presented on Monday, would have affirmed the urgent need to achieve a “comprehensive peaceful solution” to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict to welcoming Palestine as a full UN Member State within the 12-month timeframe. The draft also calls for a “full and phased withdrawal of Israeli forces” from the West Bank by the end of 2017 under the supervision of a "third party", whose presence will serve as a guarantor of sovereignty, TASS notes.

According to the US ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, the draft resolution on the terms of a Palestinian state was unbalanced, it ignored Israel’s legitimate security needs. And she complained that the resolution had been presented for a vote without giving council members any opportunity to discuss it.

Russia’s envoy to the UN Vitaly Churkin expressed regret at the UN Security Council’s failure to adopt the draft resolution on Palestine, which he said was set to "reinforce the generally-accepted international and legal basis" for the Middle East peace process.