New Zealand has circulated a United Nations resolution aimed at renewing Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
New Zealand, which is currently serving a two-year term on the U.N. Security Council, recently told the council that current events in Israel “cry out for action.”
The draft resolution asks the Israelis and Palestinians to take steps to “end the violence, avoid incitement and protect civilians,” the Associated Press reported. It calls on both sides to refrain from “provocative acts, including acts which threaten the historic status quo of holy sites in Jerusalem,” seemingly parroting Palestinian claims that Israel is trying to change the status quo on the Temple Mount, a claim Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and many other Israeli officials have repeatedly denied.
Calling the current 17-month absence of peace negotiations “unacceptable,” the resolution urges the Quartet of Middle East mediators – the U.S., E.U., U.N., and Russia—as well as Arab states and the Security Council to play a role in restarting talks.
On October 28, Israeli officials summoned New Zealand’s ambassador to both Israel and the Palestinian Authority, Jonathan Curr, to express their displeasure with the proposed resolution, Israel’s Channel 2 reported. Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon called the proposal “destructive instead of being constructive.”
By: JNS.org
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