A US-sponsored draft resolution seeking to condemn
Palestinian resistance group Hamas at the United Nations General
Assembly has failed to gain a majority vote.
The 193-member UNGA voted 87-57 in favor of the resolution Thursday
while 33 members chose to abstain, leaving Washington with a plurality
vote that fell short of the two-thirds requirement to adopt the
resolution.
The US had originally called for a simple majority vote, but the
world body opted for a two-third majority instead after a narrow 75-72
vote, with 26 abstentions.
The resolution attempted to condemn Hamas for carrying out rocket
attacks against Israel and using "airborne incendiary devices" against
Israelis living in occupied Palestinian lands.
The resolution came weeks after Hamas and other Palestinian
resistance groups fired over 400 rockets into Israel during a two-day
flare-up of violence following a botched Israeli attack against a Hamas commander.
US Ambassador Nikki Haley said before the vote that the assembly
could make history condemning Hamas, which she referred to as "one of
the most obvious and grotesque cases of terrorism in the world."
“For the sake of peace, and for the sake of this organization, I
respectfully urge my colleagues to support this resolution,” she said.
“The General Assembly has passed over 700 resolutions condemning
Israel. And not one single resolution condemning Hamas. That, more than
anything else, is a condemnation of the United Nations itself,” she
added. Read More:
China and Russia were among those voting the measure down. India
abstained despite having recently forged warmer ties with the Tel Aviv
regime. The measure was welcomed in Europe and the Americas.
After the US draft’s failure, the UNGA voted 156-6 to adopt an Irish
resolution that called for "the achievement, without delay, of a
comprehensive and lasting peace in the Middle East" on the basis of UN
resolutions, specially the December 2016 measure.
The resolution also reaffirmed "unwavering support” for a two-state solution along “the pre-1967 borders."
Tel Aviv tried to undermine the defeat, with Israel’s UN envoy Danny
Danon saying that a majority vote was within reach had the vote “not
been hijacked by a political move of procedure.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also hailed the 87 countries for taking “a principled stand against Hamas.” Hamas hails ‘slap’ to Trump
Following the vote, Hamas hailed the failure of the resolution as a “slap” to US President Donald Trump’s administration. Palestinians burn makeshift flags during a demonstration
against an upcoming UN General Assembly vote on a US-drafted resolution
condemning the Palestinian Hamas movement in the town of Rafah in the
southern Gaza Strip on December 6, 2018. (Photo by AFP)
“The failure of the American venture at the United Nations represents
a slap to the US administration and confirmation of the legitimacy of
the resistance,” the group’s spokesman Sami Abu Zahri wrote on Twitter.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas also commended the outcome.
“The presidency thanked all the states that voted against the
American draft resolution, affirming that it will not allow for the
condemnation of the Palestinian national struggle,” the PA’s office said
in a statement
Source: https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2018/12/07/582203/US-UNGA-palestine-Hamas-resolution-failure-Israel
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