The United States has vetoed a resolution from the United Nations Security Council to recognize a Palestinian state in a vote on Thursday (Apr. 18).
The council's draft resolution - which recommended to the 193-member UN General Assembly that "the State of Palestine be admitted to membership" of the UN - also garnered 12 votes for and two abstentions from the UK and Switzerland.
"The United States continues to strongly support a two-state solution," US Deputy Ambassador to the UN Robert Wood told the council. "This vote does not reflect opposition to Palestinian statehood, but instead is an acknowledgment that it will only come from direct negotiations between the parties."
According to State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel, Washington's veto was due to Hamas "currently exerting power and influence in Gaza which will be an integral part of the individual state in this resolution."
Reuters reported that the proponents of the resolution expressed their frustration with the US.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the US veto as "unfair, unethical, and unjustified."
"The fact that this resolution did not pass will not break our will and it will not defeat our determination," Palestinian Ambassador to the UN Riyan Mansour told the council after the vote. "We will not stop in our effort."
The Palestinian push for full UN membership from its current observer role came six months into a war between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza and the Israeli effort to expand settlements in the occupied West Bank, which the UN considered to be illegal.
On the other hand, Israeli officials commended the US for casting its veto, such as Foreign Minister Israel Katz, while condemning the other council members for voting in favor.
"It's very sad because your vote will only embolden Palestinian rejectionism even more and make peace almost impossible," Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan told council members who voted in favor of the draft resolution.
Meanwhile, British Ambassador to the UN Barbara Woodward explained that her country's abstention was because the recognition of Palestinian statehood "should not come at the start of a new process, but it doesn't have to be at the very end of the process."
"We must start with fixing the immediate crisis in Gaza," she added.
