MOSCOW, November 18. /TASS/. The US-drafted resolution on the Gaza Strip that has been passed by the UN Security Council runs counter to the internationally recognized decision on the establishment of the State of Palestine, the Russian foreign ministry said.

"We have to state that resolution 2803 does not authorize the Security Council to maintain peace and security and runs counter to the spirit of real peacemaking, generally recognized legal decisions envisaging the establishment of an independent and territorially integrated State of Palestine within the 1967 borders, with a capital in Jerusalem, and co-existing in peace and security with Israel," the ministry said.

"The war and suffering of the enclave’s civilian population could have been ended long ago but for Washington’s systematical vetoing, six times in the past two years, draft resolutions demanding an immediate ceasefire," it emphasized.

The ministry slammed "enforced, in fact, ultimatum-like methods of pushing for the American draft, without proper discussion and due account of major amendments by other delegations, under direct threats of resuming a large-scale bloodshed in Gaza."

"Even such a measure as releasing a Russian counter-draft that was called to bridge the gaps within the UN Security Council by means of getting back to the consolidated fundamentals of the Palestinian-Israeli settlement on the basis of international law did not help improve the situation," it added.

UNSC resolution

The US-drafted resolution provides for the establishment of the so-called Board of Peace, which will oversee the governance of Gaza and which will be led by US President Donald Trump, involving, according to Trump some other authoritative world leaders. The Board will be authorized to deploy, in coordination with Israel and Egypt, an international stabilization force (SF) that will oversee the enclave’s demilitarization and disarming Hamas and other armed groups.

However, the Palestinian Authority will not take part in governing the enclave and determining Palestine’s future on the basis of the two-state solution, the ministry pointed out. The resolution is also mum about Israel’s commitment "as an occupying power to refuse from the annexation of Palestinian lands and withdraw its forces."

"The UN Security Council and Secretariat are completely factored out from the point of view of both control and accountability of the structures that are to be created in Gaza and practical modalities of the international contingent’s deployment," the Russian foreign ministry noted.

Russia’s position

Russia, according to the ministry, refrained from voting the resolution taking into account the position of the Palestinian Authority and Arab and Muslim countries in support for the US-proposed document and in an effort to avoid any recurrence of violence and hostilities in Gaza. The document was passed by 13 votes. China abstained along with Russia.

"The most important thing now is to ensure that this resolution is not used as a smokescreen to hide uncontrolled experiments in the occupied Palestinian territory, that it doesn’t turn into a definitive sentence to the Palestinians’ legitimate rights to self-determination and the Israelis’ aspirations for security and peaceful coexistence in the region," the ministry added.