Palestian resolution presented by Jordan fails to pass UN Security Council

The Palestinian resolution called for peace with Israel within one year and an end to Israeli occupation by 2017. The resolution failed to pass by just one vote.

The following countries voted in favor of the motion: Jordan, China , France, Russia, Luxembourg, Chad, Chile and Argentina. Only two countries voted against the resolution, Australia and the United States. Five countries abstained: United Kingdom, Lithuania, Nigeria, South Korea, and Rwanda. Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian ambassador to the UN condemned the failure to pass the motion claiming: "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. This year, our people under Israeli occupation endured the further theft and colonization of their land, the demolition of their homes, daily military raids, arrests and detention of thousands of civilians including children, rampant settler terrorism, constant affronts to their human dignity and repeated incursions at our holiest sites." 

 Samantha Power, ambassador to the UN from the US, claimed that the resolution undermined efforts to achieve a two state solution. She complained that the resolution contained nonconstructive deadlines and did not take into account Israel's legitimate security concerns. Power's said: “We voted against this resolution not because we are comfortable with the status quo. We voted against it because … peace must come from hard compromises that occur at the negotiating table.” 

 The resolution had called for an end to Israeli building of settlements and also called for East Jerusalem, now occupied by Israel, to be the capital of Palestine. Peace negotiations were to be based on the pre-1967 borders before the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip were captured by Israel. Many pro-Palestinian groups also opposed the resolution. Ali Abunimah of the Electronic Intifada complained to Al Jazeera that the resolution actually undermined Palestinian rights, including those of Palestinian refugees. He said: "This was a terrible resolution which was unanimously opposed by every major Palestinian faction, it contained so many compromises in an attempt to avoid a US veto that it was weaker than existing UN resolutions." 

 Earlier, Palestinian representatives had warned that should the resolution fail, they would join the International Criminal Court and file suits against Israel. The motion was submitted by Jordan. It had the agreement of 22 Arab States and the Palestinian Authority as well. Even if the resolution had passed the United States would have vetoed the bill to prevent its adoption. After the vote Dina Kawar, Jordan's Ambassador to the UN, said: “The fact that this draft resolution was not adopted will not at all prevent us from proceeding to push the international community, specifically the United Nations, towards an effective involvement to achieving a resolution to this conflict."