The United States has vetoed a Kuwait-drafted UN resolution calling for the protection of Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
Out of the 15 UN Security Council members, Russia, France and China along with seven others voted in favor of the resolution on Friday, while four including Britain abstained.
The draft called for “the consideration of measures to guarantee the safety and protection of the Palestinian civilian population in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including in the Gaza Strip.”
Kuwait’s Ambassador Mansour al-Otaibi said the US veto “will increase the sentiment of despair among the Palestinians.”
US envoy to the UN Nikki Haley called the resolution a “grossly one-sided” view of the conflict between Palestine and Israel.
She also described Hamas as a major impediment to peace, proposing an alternative draft resolution which only gained Washington’s positive vote.
During a second vote, when the US put…