Palestine, Turkey Slams US Veto of UN Resolution on Palestinians

Ankara [Turkey], Jun 3 (ANI): Palestine and Turkey on Saturday lambasted the United States decision of vetoing a resolution of the United Nations Security Council calling for the protection of Palestinian citizens.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki called the US veto of the resolution as a "moral blunder".

"The US veto is another moral blunder and political blindness," the official Wafa news agency of Palestine quoted Riyad al-Malki as saying, citing the Anadolu news agency.

"It ignores the international consensus on the crimes and practices committed by Israel and is completely biased. We will do its best to ensure accountability for the Israeli war criminals and achieving justice for the Palestinian people," he added.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry also slammed the US' veto of the resolution calling it "inexplicable".

In a statement, the ministry said that "it was inexplicable that a proposal including the security, protection and prosperity of Palestinians was vetoed in the UN Security Council, which is the primary authorised and responsible mechanism for international peace, stability and security".

"The fact that the UN Security Council is once again dysfunctional in establishing accountability and deterrence in the context of violence against Palestinians has also shown that UN reform is an unpostponable necessity," the statement added.

"Turkey will continue to be a follower of the Palestinian cause on all platforms, particularly in the UN General Assembly," it further said.

Turkish presidential spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin called the vetoing of the UN resolution by the US as "not surprising".

Kalin said on Twitter, "It is not surprising that the U.S. administration vetoed the resolution for the protection of the Palestinian people. This confirms once more that they side with the powerful, not the righteous. The Palestinian people and Jerusalem are not alone. We will continue to support their just cause."

On May 18, a draft resolution was submitted by Kuwait at the UN Security Council, condemning the use of force by Israel and called for the "protection of the Palestinian people" in West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The Kuwait-backed draft was said to be "watered down", despite being revised thrice. It previously called for the international protection of the Palestinian citizens.

The final draft called for "the consideration of measures to guarantee the safety and protection of the Palestinian civilian population in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including in the Gaza Strip".

US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley said before the vote that the resolution was "unilateral and "grossly one-sided" and did not mention about the Hamas, the group which controls Gaza.

Subsequently, the US vetoed down the Kuwait-backed resolution calling for the protection of the Palestinians in regards to the recent violent protests in the Gaza Strip.

The draft was approved by ten countries including France and Russia while four others - Poland, the Netherlands, Ethiopia and the United Kingdom abstained from voting. Only the US voted against the resolution, according to Al-Jazeera.

In the US version of the resolution, Washington D.C. deleted references to use the Israeli force and denied protection to Palestinian citizens.

Instead, its version directed the Hamas and other Palestinian groups to immediately "cease all violent provocative actions in the Gaza Strip".

Later, the UN Security Council rejected the US proposal, calling for the condemnation of the Hamas for the violent protests in Gaza.

Meanwhile, Palestinian Liberation Organisation executive committee member, Hanan Ashrawi, said in a statement, that the US had once again demonstrated its "blind loyalty towards Israel and tried to absolve it of any wrongdoing despite its egregious violations, deliberate massacres and willful killings and war crimes."

"With its veto, the United States is once again attempting to justify the lawlessness and cruelty of Israel's military occupation, while providing Israel with legal and political cover to pursue its assault on the Palestinian people and on international law and international humanitarian law," Ashrawi added.

Earlier this month, a large number of Palestinians gathered to protest at the Gaza Strip's eastern border to commemorate the Nakba anniversary and protest the relocation of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

May 15 marks the so-called Nakba Day ('Catastrophe' in Arabic), which commemorates the 70th anniversary of the Palestinian exodus that resulted from Israel's declaration of independence in 1948.

In the clashes between Israel and Palestine at the Gaza Strip, more than 100 Palestinian demonstrators lost their lives and more than hundreds were injured, since the protests began at the Gaza border separating Israel and Palestine in March.

Nearly 6,500 Palestinians are currently held in Israeli prisons of which 62 are women and 350 are minors. (ANI)

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