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.
“It’s 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.
Britain’s UN Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant said that Britain saw merit in a council resolution “setting out the parameters for a peaceful and negotiated solution.”
“But this will require proper consultation to achieve the full backing of the council,” he was quoted by Reuters as saying.
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’s friendship with Israel and the Palestinians means it could make a contribution.
“New Zealand wants this Security Council to focus on a practical outcome — and we have been working on a text that might serve the purpose of getting negotiations started,” said McLay.
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.
McLay added that New Zealand was open to supporting the French initiative “if it has a chance of succeeding,” but he made clear that action was needed soon.
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.
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.
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.
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.
US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power said last week that the United States would continue to “work closely” with Israel at the United Nations but would not rule out advancing resolutions targeting it.
Power said the United States would continue to stand with Israel “when it matters.”
“We will continue to work extremely closely with Israel in New York,” Power said. “As you know well we have a record of standing when it matters with Israel.”
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’s war between Israel and Hamas contemplated advancing a UN Security Council resolution on the conflict.
“We will look to see what will advance Israel’s security and what will advance peace in the region,” she said.
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.
Obama administration officials have not discounted such moves.
Power repeated an Obama administration talking point that the “reevaluation” comes in the wake of mixed signals from Israel and the Palestinians regarding their commitment to a two-state solution.
“Our objective as an administration is what can we do to defuse tensions, what will it take to get those negotiations back on track,” she said.
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.
Source: Times of Israel
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