For the first time ever, Nigeria refused to vote in support of Palestine. Nigeria dumps pro-Palestinian stance and abstains during UN vote in support of Israel NIGERIA has abandoned its pro-Palestinian policy for the first time ever and adopted a pro-Israeli stance by abstained from voting on a crucial United Nations Security Council resolution that would have ended Israel’s presence in the occupied territories by 2017. Traditionally, Nigeria has always voted in support of Palestinian positions whenever the Occupied Territories have been debated at the United Nations (UN) and has always backed a two-state solution. However, on Tuesday, the Nigerian permanent representative to the UN abstained from voting on a crucial resolution that would have ended Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip by 2017. Nigeria took the stance due to what analysts believed was influenced by the recent rapport between the government and the Israelis. Over the last two years, President Goodluck Jonathan has gone on pilgrimage to Israel and met up with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. However, foreign policy analysts said Nigeria’s change in policy may not be unconnected to the recent tangible assistance given by Israel in the war against Boko Haram in the northeast. Israel, as opposed to the US, Britain and other traditional Western allies, which have been engaged in semantics, has given Nigeria concrete assistance in the form of drones, arms, military advisers and training that has helped Nigerian troops. The UN resolution had called for new talks based on territorial lines that existed before Israel’s occupation of the territories in 1967 and was the culmination of three months of campaigning by the Palestinians at the UN and had the backing of Arab states. To get through, the Palestinians required nine votes from 15 permanent and non-permanent members of the council. However, Palestine got eight votes, one short during the voting session which took place on Tuesday night. Australia and the US voted against the resolution, while Russia, China, France, Luxembourg, Jordan, Argentina, Chile and Chad voted for the resolution, with Nigeria, Britain, South Korea, Rwanda and Lithuania abstaining. Nigeria’s role stood out because until shortly before the vote, diplomats had expected the resolution to get nine yes votes, with Nigeria believed to be in support. However, at the last minute, Nigeria’s UN envoy, Professor Joy Ogwu, abstained from voting, echoing the position of the US that the ultimate path to peace between Israel and Palestine lies in a negotiated solution. Regardless of whether Palestine received nine votes, the resolution still stood no chance, as US would have deployed its veto powers as a permanent member to block it. Nigeria is currently one of the 10 non-permanent members, with its tenure expiring in 2015, while Chad and Rwanda are the other African members. reuters/article/2014/12/31/us-mideast-palestinians-un-idUSKBN0K81CR20141231
Posted on: Sat, 03 Jan 2015 16:30:34 +0000
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