UNSC Shouldering Responsibility in Israeli-Palestinian Settlement: Envoy

UNITED NATIONS, December 31 (Sputnik) — The rejection of the resolution on establishing a Palestinian state by the UN Security Council shows the body's unwillingness to take responsibility for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Palestinian envoy to the United Nations Riyad Mansour said.

"The result of today's vote shows that the Security Council as a whole is clearly not ready and willing to shoulder its responsibilities in a way that would allow for the adoption of a comprehensive resolution and allow us to open the doors for peace and for a just and lasting solution based on international law," Mansour said, addressing the UN Security Council on Tuesday.

The diplomat added that the repeated requests for the Palestinians to postpone their struggle for establishing a state "while our people are suffering, while our people are besieged, while our land is being colonized, and while the two-State solution is being destroyed and the prospects for peace are evaporating… are not viable."

Mansour also thanked the members of the UN Security Council who backed the resolution and said that the Palestinian Authorities will decide on their next steps on Wednesday.

Addressing the UN Security Council, representative of the Israeli mission to the United Nations Israel Nitzan accused Palestinians of avoiding direct negotiations with Tel Aviv.

"They have engaged in never-ending political games and now are operating into this Council with a preposterous unilateral proposal. I have news for the Palestinians — you can not agitate and provoke your way to the state," Nitzan stressed.

The UN Security Council failed to adopt the draft resolution on Palestinian statehood on Tuesday. Eight nations, including China, Russia and France, supported the document, while according to the UN Charter, at least nine countries, including all five permanent members of the UN Security council, must vote "Yes" in order for a document to be passed. Australia and the United States voted against the resolution, with the latter vetoing the document.

The resolution was first submitted to the United Nations on December 17, but has been amended due to the pressure from Palestinian factions, who claimed that the Palestinian Authority failed to properly discuss the draft document. The amended resolution stipulated that Israel must withdraw from the West Bank by the end of 2017, passing the territories it occupied in 1967 to the independent Palestine.