UNITED NATIONS, United States: The United States will “unquestionably veto” a UN draft resolution calling for the protection of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, US Ambassador Nikki Haley said on the eve of a Security Council vote on Friday.Haley described the text put forward by Kuwait on behalf of Arab countries as a “grossly one-sided approach that is morally bankrupt and would only serve to undermine ongoing efforts toward peace between the Israelis and Palestinians.”The vote is scheduled for 3:00 pm (1900 GMT) on Friday. The United States circulated its own rival draft resolution blaming Hamas for the recent flare-up in Gaza and demanding that Hamas and Islamic Jihad “cease all violent activity and provocative actions, including along the boundary fence”, according to the text seen by AFP. It was unclear whether there would be a vote on the US text, which could fail to garner enough support. Kuwait presented its draft two weeks ago, initially calling for an international protection mission for the Palestinians as protests turned violent on the Israeli-Gaza border.At least 122 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the unrest since the end of March. A final, watered-down version however urges “the consideration of measures to guarantee the safety and protection” of Palestinian civilians and requests a report from Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on a possible “international protection mechanism.” “The United States will unquestionably veto Kuwait’s draft resolution,” Haley said in a statement.It would be the second time that Haley has resorted to US veto power to block a UN measure on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In December, Haley vetoed a measure that rejected President Donald Trump’s decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem after all 14 other council members supported it.
06-02-2018, 05:56 PM
US will veto UN draft on protecting Palestinians
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