On UNSC rejection of PA bid

A PA-Arab bid for ending the Israeli occupation could not pass through the UNSC despite being modified several times. The draft resolution needed nine positive votes in the 15 member council.

The US as the sole veto-have, permanent member of the council rejected the draft. Also, non-perm member joined the US in rejecting the bid.

Russia, China, and France approved the draft as the veto-have perm members. They were joined by Jordan, Argentina, Luxemburg, Chad, and Chile as non-permanent members. Britain as the sole veto-have, permanent member abstained. Abstention also came from South Korea, Latvia, Nigeria, and Rwanda.

The US rejection showed that the country has never modified its traditional approach in siding with the Zionist regime despite an otherwise conduct on the part of the US authorities. The US rejection also came despite the fact that the country's reservations about the original draft were addressed in a final modified draft.

The rejection also revealed the existing differences on the part of the western governments concerning the Palestinian crisis and the Palestinian statehood. France and Luxemburg's positive votes may tell the general ambience among the European states. Here, Britain is an exception as it kept its double stance in the European Union.

The surprising vote however came from Nigeria as many expected the country whose population is largely Muslims to support the draft however it abstained. If Nigeria has approved the draft, the bid would garner the required nine votes to be approved albeit the US government would veto the draft through at a higher cost.

Question also rises as to the PA's real motive in rushing the bid to the council before 2015 in which Malaysia and Venezuela would join the UNSC as supporters of the Palestinian issue.