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Israel blasts draft resolution, says Palestine avoiding direct talks

The document, which failed to pass the UN Security Council vote on Tuesday, is “absurd and represents only one side,” Israel Nitzan said

UNITED NATIONS, December 31. /TASS/. An advisor to Israel’s UN envoy has criticized a draft resolution on creating a Palestinian state and accused Palestine of avoiding direct talks with Israelis.

The document, which failed to pass the UN Security Council vote on Tuesday, is “absurd and represents only one side,” Israel Nitzan said.

“The Palestinians use any possibility to avoid direct talks with Israel,” the diplomat said. “They are engaged in a never-ending series of political games,” he said.

The diplomat said Palestine cannot become a state “through agitation and provocations.” He has urged the UN Security Council to “stop conniving the Palestinians.”

Riyad Mansour, a permanent observer of Palestine to the United Nations, said the Palestinian leadership is expected to define its further steps within a day, “taking into consideration the unstable and dangerous situation and also the need to act in a responsible way and within the people’s interests.”

The draft resolution did not receive the majority support and was vetoed by the US which criticized it as being untimely and unconstructive. Eight countries, including Russia, China and Jordan, backed the document. Another five states - the United Kingdom, Lithuania, Nigeria, South Korea and Rwanda - abstained.