British Ambassador to the U.N. Mark Lyall Grant said his delegation would not support the Palestinian draft resolution in the United Nations Security Council. Photo: Twitter.

JNS.org – The United Kingdom has joined the United States in declining to support a Palestinian draft resolution in the United Nations Security Council that calls for an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank by 2017 and the establishment of a Palestinian state with borders based on the pre-1967 lines.

British Ambassador to the UN Mark Lyall Grant told reporters on Tuesday that his delegation would not support the current draft.

“There’s some difficulties with the text, particularly language on time scales, new language on refugees. So I think we would have some difficulties [supporting the draft resolution],” Grant said, Reuters reported.

On Monday, the US said it would not support the resolution because it does not advance the goal of peace or take Israel’s security needs into account.

“We don’t think this resolution is constructive,” State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke said. “We think it sets arbitrary deadlines for reaching a peace agreement and for Israel’s withdrawal from the West Bank, and those are more likely to curtail useful negotiations than to bring them to a successful conclusion. … Further, we think that the resolution fails to account for Israel’s legitimate security needs, and the satisfaction of those needs, of course, integral to a sustainable settlement.”

Both the UK and US have veto power in the 15-member Security Council. Jordan, the lone Arab member of the Security Council, has said it has plans to submit the resolution, but it is unclear if the resolution will get the nine affirmative votes it needs to pass.