(New York Times) Michael R. Gordon and Somini Sengupta - A UN Security Council draft resolution that set a deadline to establish a sovereign Palestinian state was defeated Tuesday after it failed to receive the nine votes needed for adoption. The U.S. and Australia voted against the measure. France, China and Russia were among the eight countries that voted for it. Britain and four other nations abstained. Samantha Power, the American ambassador to the UN, said the resolution was "deeply imbalanced," setting deadlines that did not adequately take account of Israel's security needs. "Today's staged confrontation in the UN Security Council will not bring the parties closer to achieving a two-state solution," she said. "This resolution sets the stage for more division, not for compromise." Secretary of State John Kerry worked to line up enough abstentions from American allies like South Korea and Rwanda so that the U.S. would not have to wield its veto. Kerry called more than a dozen senior foreign officials including Goodluck Jonathan, the president of Nigeria, which abstained.
2014-12-31 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive