Russia, China disappointed at Palestine statehood bid failure
December 31, 2014, 6:27 am

A view of the representatives of the Russia, Argentina, Chad, Chile, China and France voting in favour of the draft resolution on 30 December 2014 [Image: UN]

The motion that garnered eight votes in approval was defeated on Tuesday, one short of total nine votes needed to pass.

“The Security Council has once again failed to uphold its charter duties to address this crises and to meaningfully contribute to a lasting solution in accordance with its own resolutions,” said Riyad Mansour, Palestinian ambassador to the UN.

Eight countries, Russia, China, Argentina, Chad, Chile, France, Jordan, Luxembourg, voted their approval for a Palestinian resolution calling for peace with Israel within a year and an end to Israel’s occupation by 2017.

United States and Australia voted against the motion while five countries, United Kingdom, Lithuania, Nigeria, South Korea, Rwanda abstained.

China criticized the outcome of the UNSC meet on Tuesday.

“This draft reflects just demands of Arab states, including the Palestinian people, and is in accord with the relevant UN resolutions, the ‘land for peace’ principle, the Arab peace initiative and middle-Eastern peace roadmap. And is also in accord with China’s consistent position. We express deep regret over the failure of the draft resolution to be adopted,” said Liu Jieyi, China’s permanent representative to the United Nations.

The resolution had called for East Jerusalem to be established as the capital of the state of Palestine and an end to Israeli settlement building.

The Chinese concerns on the result of the vote were echoed by Russia.

Russia’s UN envoy Vitaly Churkin said that Moscow “cannot share the objections of those who believe that the draft resolution was undermining the prospects of the negotiating process.”

“Unfortunately last year revealed how this process has gone into a blind alley, with its monopolization by the United States and their pullback from the Quartet [US, EU, UN and Russia]. We believe this to be a strategic mistake,” said Churkin.

TBP and Agencies