{France and Britain urged the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday to set a framework for a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, as New Zealand announced it was working on a draft resolution to revive long-stalled peace talks.}<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the responsibility of this council to adopt a consensual and balanced resolution that sets the parameters of a final status and a timeline for the negotiations, French UN Ambassador Francois Delattre told a council meeting, according to Reuters.<\/p>\n
Britain\u2019s UN Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant said that Britain saw merit in a council resolution \u201csetting out the parameters for a peaceful and negotiated solution.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut this will require proper consultation to achieve the full backing of the council,\u201d he was quoted by Reuters as saying.<\/p>\n
France began consultations on a text that would outline the parameters of an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal last month, but New Zealand Ambassador Jim McLay said Tuesday that his country\u2019s friendship with Israel and the Palestinians means it could make a contribution.<\/p>\n
\u201cNew Zealand wants this Security Council to focus on a practical outcome \u2014 and we have been working on a text that might serve the purpose of getting negotiations started,\u201d said McLay.<\/p>\n
The ambassador emphasized that the timing was right to move forward, after the Israeli elections and before the United States becomes embroiled in the campaign for the presidency in 2016.<\/p>\n
McLay added that New Zealand was open to supporting the French initiative \u201cif it has a chance of succeeding,\u201d but he made clear that action was needed soon.<\/p>\n
The move from New Zealand, which was elected as one of the 10 non-permanent members last year, reflected growing impatience within the council over the failure to agree on a UN approach for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.<\/p>\n
The Security Council in December rejected a resolution put forth by the Palestinians that would have set a two-year timetable to achieve an Israeli-Palestinian settlement paving the way to a Palestinian state.<\/p>\n
Australia voted against the resolution, while Britain, Lithuania, Nigeria, Rwanda and South Korea abstained following a round of telephone calls from US Secretary of State John Kerry.<\/p>\n
The United States also voted against the resolution, but did not resort to its veto power after the measure failed to garner the required nine votes for adoption.<\/p>\n
US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power said last week that the United States would continue to \u201cwork closely\u201d with Israel at the United Nations but would not rule out advancing resolutions targeting it.<\/p>\n
Power said the United States would continue to stand with Israel \u201cwhen it matters.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will continue to work extremely closely with Israel in New York,\u201d Power said. \u201cAs you know well we have a record of standing when it matters with Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, Power would not rule out advancing UN resolutions regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. She noted that the United States had as recently as last summer\u2019s war between Israel and Hamas contemplated advancing a UN Security Council resolution on the conflict.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will look to see what will advance Israel\u2019s security and what will advance peace in the region,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Israel is concerned that the Obama administration will no longer stand in the way of a Palestinian statehood resolution in the Security Council and may advance a measure outlining the parameters of a final status peace deal.<\/p>\n
Obama administration officials have not discounted such moves.<\/p>\n
Power repeated an Obama administration talking point that the \u201creevaluation\u201d comes in the wake of mixed signals from Israel and the Palestinians regarding their commitment to a two-state solution.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur objective as an administration is what can we do to defuse tensions, what will it take to get those negotiations back on track,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
US policy for decades has been to mostly block Israel-critical resolutions, although successive administrations have on occasion allowed resolutions targeting Israel for condemnation to advance.<\/p>\n
{{Source: Times of Israel}}<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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