GAZA: The Palestinian ambassador to the UN has rejected a US veto in the United Nations Security Council that called for a resolution against President Donald Trump’s recent recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
The draft resolution was backed on Monday by the 14 other Security Council members, including many US allies, highlighting Washington’s increasing isolation over an issue that has triggered mass rallies in support of the Palestinians in major international cities.
Speaking after the vote, Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian ambassador to the UN, said: “It is paradoxical that while we were waiting for a peace plan from the US, the administration instead decided to further obstruct peace and delay its realisation.
“The US decision encourages Israel to persist in its crimes against the Palestinian people and to continue its occupation of our territory. No rhetoric will hide this complacency in prolonging the occupation,” he added.
On Monday, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), an umbrella of Palestinian political parties, announced it would no longer accept the US as a partner in the peace process.
“We will not allow the US to be a mediator or a partner in the peace process,” said Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the PA, the Ramallah-based governmental body that administers parts of the occupied West Bank.
Abbas also promised to seek full membership for Palestine at the UN, despite a previous push failed to do so in 2011.
Currently, Palestine is a “non-member observer state”, meaning that it has the right to speak but not vote on resolutions.
“We will take political, diplomatic, and legal actions against Trump’s declaration regarding Jerusalem,” said Abbas.
