US vetoes UN Security Council draft resolution on protection of Palestinians

The United States on Friday vetoed a Kuwaiti-drafted Security Council resolution that would have asked for measures to protect Palestinians following weeks of violence in Gaza between Palestinians and Israeli security forces.

Ten of the 15 council members voted in favor of the draft, and four abstained. The United States was the only country that voted against the text. As the United States, a permanent member of the Security Council, has veto power, the draft failed to be adopted.

Before the vote, US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley repeated her threat to veto the draft.

The Kuwaiti text deplores the use of excessive, disproportionate and indiscriminate force by the Israeli forces against Palestinian civilians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. It calls for the consideration of measures to guarantee the safety and protection of the Palestinians. The Kuwaiti draft further calls for immediate steps toward ending the closure and the restrictions imposed by Israel on movement and access into and out of the Gaza Strip.

The language of the Kuwaiti text was watered down from its initial version, which called for the "dispatch of an international protection mission."

Heley complained that Kuwait's resolution makes no mention of Hamas, which, she said, bears responsibility for the poor living conditions and the recent escalation of violence in Gaza.

It is resolutions like the Kuwaiti one that undermine the United Nations' credibility in dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, she said, adding that the draft is wildly inaccurate in its characterization of recent events in Gaza, and would harm peace efforts.

The Kuwaiti draft was circulated among council members about two weeks ago. Before the text was put to vote, the United States proposed significant amendments to the Kuwaiti draft. The US amendments were intended to be voted on before the Kuwaiti text, and if adopted, would be incorporated into the Kuwaiti text.

At the last minute, however, the lengthy US amendments were remodeled into a competing draft resolution and was put to vote after the Kuwaiti one.

In a later vote on the US-drafted resolution, only the United States itself voted in favor. Three of the 15 Security Council members – Kuwait, Russia and Bolivia – voted against it, and the remaining 11 members abstained.

A Security Council resolution needs at least nine affirmative votes to be adopted, on the condition that none of the five permanent members of the council – Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States – votes against it.

The US draft resolution blames Hamas for the recent escalation of violence in Gaza.

Immediately after the vote, US ambassador Haley blamed "anti-Israel bias" in the Security Council.