Document Called to Set a Deadline to End Conflict With Israel
Members listen as Palestinian representative to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, speaks during a meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday. ASSOCIATED PRESS
UNITED NATIONS—A U.N. Security Council resolution drafted by the Palestinians that would have set a deadline to end the conflict with Israel was defeated on Tuesday.
The draft called for a comprehensive solution to the conflict leading to a Palestinian state within one year and a withdrawal of all Israeli forces from Palestinian territory within three years.
Nine votes are needed to pass a resolution in the 15-member Security Council, but the draft got eight. Even if it had garnered the needed support, the U.S. had promised to use its veto to kill the bid.
U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power called the draft “deeply imbalanced” and said it contained “many elements that are not conducive to negotiations between the two parties.” The U.S. had said for weeks it was opposed to any resolution that, in its view, would unilaterally try to impose a solution.
The draft resolution called for “a just, lasting and comprehensive peaceful solution that brings an end to the Israeli occupation since 1967.” It called for the establishment within 12 months of two independent, democratic states living peacefully within mutually and internationally recognized borders.
Israeli security forces would need to completely withdraw from the West Bank by the end of 2017, according to the draft. Negotiations were to be based on the June 1967 borders with “limited, agreed land swaps.”
Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian representative to the U.N., said the Security Council was “out of step with the overwhelming global consensus” to end the “Israeli occupation.” He said the Council wasn't willing to “shoulder its responsibilities” toward a comprehensive resolution of the conflict.
The U.S. and Australia voted against the resolution. Russia, France, China and Jordan, which submitted the draft on behalf the of Palestinians, were among the eight votes in favor and there were five abstentions.
Israel Nitzan, Israel’s Middle East adviser at the U.N., told the council: “I have news for the Palestinians: You cannot agitate and provocate your way to a state. I urge the council to stop indulging the Palestinians and put an end to their march of folly.”
Write to Joe Lauria at newseditor@wsj.com
