The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) terrorist organization behind the Palestinian Authority (PA) complained loudly on Wednesday, after the unilateral PA bid demanding statehood and Israeli withdrawals was shot down in a vote at the UN Security Council.
PLO Executive Committee Member Hanan Ashrawi said “the UN Security Council vote is outrageously shameful,” reports AFP. The unilateral PA move is a breach of the 1993 Oslo Accords the PLO signed onto.
Referring to the five countries who abstained – Britain, Lithuania, Nigeria, Rwanda and South Korea – she added “those countries that abstained demonstrated a lack of political will to hold Israel accountable and to act in accordance with the global rule of law and international humanitarian law.”
The PA resolution received eight votes but needed nine to pass, at which point it likely would have been negated by a US veto. Other than the five abstentions, the US and Australia voted against the motion.
Apparently the vote that left the resolution short of nine was that of Nigeria, which originally agreed to support the resolution but ended up abstaining after being convinced about the failings of the unilateral move by Israel and the US.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu thanked Nigeria and Rwanda on Wednesday for abstaining, saying “this is what tipped the scales.”
PA chairperson Mahmoud Abbas responded to the failure of the resolution by calling a meeting in Ramallah and vowing to join the International Criminal Court (ICC) by signing the Rome Statue on Wednesday, along with 15 other international conventions in breach of the Oslo Accords.
Abbas’s unity partner Hamas, the terrorist organization ruling in Gaza, slammed him for the UN move, with Hamas spokesperson Fawzi Barhum telling AFP “this was a unilateral decision taken by Abu Mazen (Abbas) who has taken the Palestinian decision-making process hostage.”
“He is now facing two choices after this failure…he must make good on his threats to end security cooperation with the occupier, and sign the Rome Statute,” said Barhum.
However, if the PA joins the ICC, it is appraised to be the main loser from the move as it would open it up to a slew of Israeli lawsuits for its involvement in terrorism.
“The Palestinians will themselves be judged by this court which will show the world the nature of Palestinian terrorism and the war crimes committed in the name of the Palestinian Authority,” foreign ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon told AFP.
