NEW YORK – The United States vetoed Friday an Arab-backed UN draftresolution calling for measures to protect the Palestinians but failed towin backing for its own text condemning Hamas for the violence in Gaza.
The two failed votes at the Security Council came on the same day that ayoung Palestinian woman was shot dead by Israeli soldiers near the Gazaborder fence, bringing the death toll of Gazans killed by Israeli firesince the end of March to 123.
US Ambassador Nikki Haley declared that “it is now completely clear thatthe UN is hopelessly biased against Israel,” saying council members were”willing to blame Israel, but unwilling to blame Hamas.”
The outcome deepened the deadlock at the top UN body over how to respond tothe flareup of violence in Gaza just days after UN envoy Nickolay Mladenovwarned that the Palestinian enclave was “close to the brink of war.”
Ten countries including China, France and Russia voted in favor of thedraft put forward by Kuwait on behalf of Arab countries. Four countries –Britain, Ethiopia, the Netherlands and Poland — abstained.
The Kuwait-drafted text had called for “measures to guarantee the safetyand protection” of Palestinian civilians in Gaza and the occupied WestBank, and requested a UN report to propose an “international protectionmechanism.”
Haley told the council the measure was “wildly inaccurate in itscharacterization of recent events in Gaza” by condemning Israel for theviolence.
– No support for US rival text –
During a second vote, the United States failed to win support for its ownrival measure calling on Palestinian militants to halt their protests inGaza.
Eleven countries abstained, while Russia and two others opposed it.
A draft resolution requires nine votes to be adopted in the 15-membercouncil and no veto from the five permanent members — Britain, China,France, Russia and the United States.
“This session was another missed opportunity for this council,” FrenchAmbassador Francois Delattre said, deploring an “increasingly deafeningsilence” from the United Nations on the Israeli-Palestinian crisis.
Kuwait’s Ambassador Mansour al-Otaibi said the US veto “will increase thesentiment of despair among the Palestinians.”
A barrage of rocket and mortars into Israel from Gaza on Tuesday wasfollowed by Israeli strikes on 65 militant sites in the Gaza Strip in theworst flareup since the 2014 war.
Israel has fought three wars in Gaza against Hamas, which the United Statesconsiders a terrorist organization.
It was the second time that Haley has resorted to US veto power to block aUN measure on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In December, Haley vetoed a draft resolution that rejected President DonaldTrump’s decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem after all 14 othercouncil members supported it. – APP/AFP