(IsraelNN.com) The United Nations Security Council issued a statement Monday calling for the creation of a new Arab state in Judea, Samaria and Gaza and the cessation of Jewish development in those same areas. Israel rejected the involvement of the Security Council in what it sees as a bilateral issue.
The declaration, affirmed by 15 member states, was presented by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Russia currently chairs the Council.
'Urgent Efforts' to Create a New Arab State
"The Council reiterates its call for renewed and urgent efforts by the parties and the international community to achieve a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East, based on the vision of a region where two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, will live side by side in peace, within secure and recognized borders," the U.N. Security Council declared.
To that end, the Council encouraged the Quartet - the U.N., the U.S., Russia and the European Union - "to support the parties in their efforts to achieve a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East."
The Council also called for a comprehensive Middle East peace agreement, including between Israel and Syria.
In her comments to the Council, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice added: "This is a moment that should not be lost and that is why the United States and others are redoubling our efforts to achieve a lasting two-state solution."
No Jews Allowed
The U.N. also specifically called on Israel to cease all further development of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria.
"The time has come for Israel to fundamentally change its policies in this regard, as it has repeatedly promised to do," said U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. Explaining the Arab view, he called continued Jewish development in Judea and Samaria "unacceptable unilateral actions... house demolitions, intensified settlement activity, settler violence, and oppressive movement restrictions due to permits, checkpoints, and the barrier, which are intimately connected to settlements."
Ki-moon further took the time to counsel Israel that the closure on the Hamas-run jihadist regime in Gaza "does not weaken Israel's adversaries in Gaza, but does untold damage to the fabric of civilian life." He and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner criticized Israel over the inability to get more than food and medicines into Gaza by way of Israel. However, neither leader mentioned Egypt's hermetic overland closure on Gaza from the south.
Aside from the harsh criticism of Israel, Ki-moon called for an end to "indiscriminate rocket attacks" from Gaza, calling them "deeply unacceptable" and "totally counterproductive".
Kouchner mentioned the rocket attacks as well, adding that the "window of opportunity" for an Israel-Arab diplomatic agreement "can be calculated in terms of months, not years."
Israeli Reaction
Israel boycotted the U.N. meeting.
According to a statement by Israel's U.N. Ambassador Gabriela Shalev, "Israel does not believe that the involvement of the Security Council contributes to the political process in the Middle East. This process should be bilateral and left to the parties themselves."
The statement continued, "Furthermore, the timing of this Security Council meeting is inappropriate as the Israeli government is in the midst of conducting a policy review, prior to next week's visit by Prime Minister [Binyamin] Netanyahu to the United States."
Netanyahu is slated to meet with U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington, D.C. on May 18.
The Palestinian Authority also did not participate in the Security Council meeting.
The United Nations Security Council unanimously endorsed a statement Monday calling for the establishment of a Palestinian state and pushing for Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations in Moscow this year under the auspices of the UN's Middle East Quartet.
"The outcome reflects our common interest that talks resume as soon as possible," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters after the meeting.
He added that future talks between the Palestinians and the new Israeli government should be resumed "not from square one."
Israeli officials did not attend the Security Council meeting, citing an internal policy review by the new government ahead of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's scheduled meetings with US President Barack Obama next week in Washington.
Israeli UN envoy Gabriela Shalev added in a statement that Israel also objects to Security Council involvement in the peace process.
"This process should be bilateral and left to the parties themselves," Shalev said in a statement.
Lavrov said he did not believe the Security Council needed to wait until all party countries had formulated their own policies and then mediate ex post facto.
"We have made use of the prestige of the Security Council to lay out what the international community wants," Lavrov said. "This to a certain extent will play a role impacting the approach of those who have not yet adopted a policy."
Three of the Quartet countries - Britain, France and Russia - were represented at UN headquarters by their foreign ministers, while the US was represented by UN Ambassador Susan Rice, who holds cabinet rank.
Rice said at the Security Council session that the US was committed to speeding progress toward peace. She reiterated comments made last week by special US peace envoy George Mitchell, who said the Obama administration intends to integrate the Arab peace plan, which calls for a return to pre-1967 borders, into its approach.
Rice called on Israel to halt settlement growth, dismantle outposts and allow Palestinians freedom of movement, and repeated her call on the Palestinian Authority to rein in Hamas terrorists, asking Arab leaders to help.
"The United States cannot be left to do all the heavy lifting by itself, and other countries, including Jordan, must do all that they can to shore up our common efforts," Rice said.
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