UN Security Council Fails To Adopt Competing Texts On Protection Of Palestinian Civilians In Gaza

NEW YORK, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 02nd Jun, 2018) The United Nations Security Council on Friday failed to adopt two competing draft resolutions; one submitted by Kuwait, in response to the killing of dozens of Palestinian protestors in Gaza, and the other tabled by the United States, which vetoed the initial resolution saying it was "grossly one-sided" against Israel.

The UN had repeatedly called for calm last month along the border of the Gaza Strip – the Palestinian enclave occupied by Israel – where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians participated in "the Great March of Return" from 30th March to 15th May.

The draft proposed by Kuwait garnered 10 votes in favour, but the US vetoed the text, the UN news Centre has reported.

Four countries abstained. If one of the Council’s five permanent members – China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom or the US – casts a negative vote on a resolution, the text cannot be adopted.

The draft would have urged the Council to consider "measures to guarantee the safety and protection" of Palestinian civilians and requests a report from the UN Secretary-General on a possible "international protection mechanism.

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The US version would have called on Hamas to "cease all violent activity and provocative actions, including along the boundary fence." This text did not get any support except from the US itself, with three Security Council Members rejecting it and 11 abstaining.

Several members said the US text was tabled without prior consultation, and did not take into account the overall context of the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Mansour Ayyad Al-Otaibi, Permanent Representative of Kuwait to the UN, said that the failed resolution had been submitted on behalf of the Arab countries and has been supported by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation at its recent summit in Istanbul.

"We deplore that the Council failed to adopt the resolution, which stipulates protection should be provided to the Palestinians" who he said were in dire need and enduring a "tragic situation in the face of massacres by Israel, the occupying Power".