US Introduces UN Resolution Endorsing Two-State Solution for Mideast Peace By VOA News 30 November 2007
The United States has presented to the U.N. Security Council a draft resolution endorsing this week's Israeli-Palestinian agreement to re-start peace negotiations aimed at achieving a two-state settlement by the end of 2008.
Zalmay Khalilzad (File)
U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, who presented the draft late Thursday, said there was enormous support for the pledges Israeli and Palestinian leaders made at the U.S.-sponsored Mideast conference in Annapolis, Maryland.Khalilzad said all Security Council members recognize that we collectively and individually will have to support and sustain the momentum to help the parties achieve peace.Earlier, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon hailed the peace conference as a new beginning in efforts to achieve peace between Israelis and the Palestinians. In a statement marking the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People Thursday, Ban said implementation of the two-state solution for the Mideast conflict is paramount.Also on Thursday, U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas announced that Mr. Ban plans to appoint a Dutch diplomat, Robert Serry, as U.N. Special Coordinator for the Middle East peace process.
Serry most recently served as the ambassador to Ireland. From 1986 to 1992, he worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at The Hague, where he helped conduct diplomacy initiatives to promote dialogue between Israel and the Palestinians. Serry would also be Mr. Ban's personal representative to the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority. If his appointment is approved by the U.N. Security Council, Serry would succeed Michael Williams of Britain.
UPDATE
US withdraws UN text backing Mideast peace process: diplomat NOV 30,07
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - The United States Friday withdrew a resolution it presented to the UN Security Council endorsing the relaunch of the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks agreed in Annapolis, a diplomat here said. The reason for the move was not immediately clear, said the diplomat, close to the Security Council, and US officials also refused to be drawn on why the resolution was withdrawn.The US draft said the council endorses the program of action for negotiations and implementation of outstanding obligations ... agreed upon by the Israeli and Palestinian leadership at Annapolis, Maryland on November 27, 2007.
On Thursday, after the session at which the draft was submitted, US ambassador to the UN, Zalmay Khalilzad, said Security Council members intended to discuss the text with the parties involved.
His comments appeared to suggest that Israel and the Palestinians had not been consulted before the text was drafted, as normally happens. And there were even doubts whether the US State Department had been informed that the text was to be presented Thursday.US President George W. Bush brought together Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas in the Maryland state capital on Tuesday in a bid to revive the stagnant Middle East peace process.The two sides agreed in Annapolis to relaunch their stalled peace talks immediately, aiming for a deal including a separate Palestinian state by late 2008.The US-proposed draft resolution to the UN Security Council had called on all states to lend their diplomatic and political support to Israeli-Palestinian efforts to implement their agreed program of action, including by encouraging and recognizing progress and preventing any support for acts of violence or terrorism intended to disrupt their efforts.State Department spokesman Sean McCormack would not be drawn on the reasons behind withdrawing the resolution, saying: I think the events and the results of Annapolis speak for themselves.
You take a look at all the positive effects that came out of Annapolis and we were not sure that we saw a need to add anything to the conversation. Sometimes the results of the events speak for themselves.A senior US government official, who asked not to be named, told reporters: I don't think anybody saw the need (for a resolution).Inevitably when you get into this process, you have to do a cost-benefit analysis. Yeah, sure there might be some slight benefit by passing such a thing.But whenever you open these sorts of things up, you open it up to just turning into a Christmas tree for whatever it is you want to add there.The UN draft resolution also called on those states and international organizations in a position to do so to assist in the development of the Palestinian economy, including at an upcoming donors' conference in Paris.
