UN Security Council members met on Saturday to forge a compromise on Palestinian proposals for a UN observer force in an effort to avert a US veto before an Arab summit convenes next week, said reports.
The Palestinians and their supporters insist that any council call to end six months of clashes with Israel must include, at a minimum, a willingness to consider an unarmed military and police observer force, said Reuters.
The UK, France, Ireland and Norway have introduced a draft resolution that makes no mention of international observers to help protect Palestinians on the West Bank and Gaza, said the agency, but added however that it is not certain if Washington will approve any resolution.
Acting US ambassador to the United Nations, James Cunningham, was quoted by AFP as telling council members that they could choose “between consensus and confrontation.”
Cunningham, who has a veto on the council, "appealed for consensus," diplomats said, but he added that a US abstention was the least likely outcome.
Diplomats said the gap had narrowed between the European and nonaligned members, who support the Palestinian position, although they were not yet able to submit a composite text to the council.
One European ambassador said earlier that the draft was intended to avoid "a train wreck" over Palestinian demands for a UN observer force, which would have inevitably meant a US veto, according to AFP.
The Palestinian observer to the UN, Nasser Al-Kidwa, had said Friday that the European proposals were unacceptable because "they do not deal in a serious way with the issue of protection and the establishment of an observer force."
The latest draft, made available to AFP, expressed the council's readiness "to act immediately upon the agreement of the parties to set up any kind of mechanism to protect civilians." – Albawaba.com
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