News
Hague to explain UK abstention on Palestinian state
Foreign Secretary William Hague will address Parliament today and lay out Britain’s reasons for abstaining if a vote is held on Palestinian statehood at the UN Security Council. Hague is expected to say that Britain sympathises with the Palestinians and condemns illegal settlement construction in the West Bank but that a long lasting peace deal can only be achieved through negotiations with Israel.
In related news, A UN Security Council committee could not reach a consensus over the Palestinian bid for statehood and membership at the UN. The report released by the panel that will be distributed to all 15 Security Council members said that the body was “unable to make a unanimous recommendation to the Security Council.” A draft report said an expected 8 out of the 15 member countries would support the bid, while 9 votes were needed in order to force the US to veto the decision.
Due to the committee’s failure to reach a consensus, the Palestinian initiative in the UN Security Council looks unlikely to succeed. The Palestinians could still force a vote by asking the Lebanese, who represent them at the UN, to push forward a motion, but are unlikely to go through a process that would lead to defeat. A more likely course for the Palestinian Authority at this stage will be to pursue an upgrade in its status at the UN from the current “observer organisation” to “non-member state” at the General Assembly. The so-called “Vatican option” would allow the Palestinians access to organisations such as the International Criminal Court, which could not be prevented by a US veto.
Meanwhile, in a related development, the US State Department said that Envoys of the Quartet of Middle East peace mediators would meet separately with Israeli and Palestinian officials on November 13 and 14 in Jerusalem and Ramallah in an effort to kick-start the peace process. “We expect these will again be Quartet envoy meetings with the parties separately,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told a news briefing, saying the meetings would seek to encourage both sides to offer concrete proposals on land and security concerns.