New Zealand would seem an unlikely hope for the Palestinian people, but it has opened its third term on the U.N. Security Council – its first in 21 years – with strong words.
“New Zealand believes that failure of this U.N. Security Council to bring leadership to the [Israel-Palestine] issue, at this time, amounts to an abdication of its responsibilities,” the country’s U.N. Ambassador Jim McLay said on Jan. 15.
“Arguments that this Council doesn’t have a role, or that it can’t add value, can no longer be justified, particularly as other ways to find a solution haven’t succeeded.”
Experts tell Al Arabiya News that McLay’s remarks reflect New Zealand’s intention to be instrumental in the peace process and drive renewed efforts at a two-state solution.
In the final days of last year, the Security Council rejected a proposal by Jordan that would have fast-tracked a full Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank and East Jerusalem by 2017.
However, the Palestinians fell one vote short of the necessary nine, which would have triggered a U.S. veto.
The United States and Australia rejected the proposal, while the UK, Lithuania, Nigeria, South Korea and Rwanda abstained.
Regardless, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas almost immediately insisted the resolution still had life because of a new term of 10 non-permanent Security Council members.
“We didn’t fail. The U.N. Security Council failed us. We’ll go again to the Security Council. Why not?” he said shortly after the failed vote.
Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki said he had “received assurances from the new members…that they would support the Palestinian demand to end the occupation,” U.S. Jewish news website Algemeiner Journal reported… see more
source: alarabiya.net
Tags: New Zealand, Palestine, Politics, UN
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