UNSC rejects resolution on Palestinian state

NOVANEWS

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.It received eight “yes” votes, two “no”

votes from the United States and Australia, and five abstentions, from the UK

, Lithuania, Nigeria, South Korea and Rwanda.

The US, 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.

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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.

Several European parliaments have adopted non-binding motions calling for

recognition of Palestine.

The Palestinians had warned that if the bid to win support for a UN resolution

failed they were prepared to join the International Criminal Court to file suits

against Israel.