UNITED NATIONS, Dec 15: Libya, the only Arab member of the UN Security Council, criticised a US draft resolution on Monday that hails progress made in talks between Palestinians and Israelis but mentions no specific problems.

“Ignoring completely what Israel is doing there I think will not help ... support for this draft resolution,” Libya’s UN Ambassador Giadallah Ettalhi told reporters.

Asked if he planned to vote against the text when the council considers it on Tuesday, Ettalhi said he was awaiting instructions from Tripoli.

“We have already proposed some changes,” he said, adding that there were several issues that should be raised. “What about the blockade of Gaza? What about the settlements? What about the settlers’ repeated aggressions against the Palestinians?”

If approved, it will be the Security Council’s first resolution on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since November 2003, when it endorsed the Middle East “road map” peace plan for eventual Palestinian statehood.

The 15-nation council is expected to vote on it on Tuesday at a special session which US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov and other foreign ministers are expected to attend.

In order to pass, a resolution needs nine votes and no vetoes from permanent council members — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States.

Even if Libya votes against the resolution, council members expect it to be adopted. But diplomats said they would prefer to have Arab backing and a unanimous vote in favour.

Both Russia and China have expressed support for the text.

US officials say the point of the resolution is to endorse the goals of peace talks launched in November 2007 by the administration of President George W. Bush in Annapolis, Maryland, while avoiding any discussion of individual areas of disagreement.

The Republican administration had wanted a deal on Palestinian statehood by the end of this year but all sides now say that will not happen. Bush leaves office on Jan 20, when Democrat Barack Obama will become US president.

The Palestinians have said Israeli settlement building in Palestinian areas threatens to derail the peace process. United Nations diplomats say Arab delegations want it and the other issues Ettalhi referred to explicitly mentioned in the resolution.

Instead, the draft urges both sides to “refrain from any steps that could undermine confidence or prejudice the outcome of the negotiations” and calls for “an intensification of diplomatic efforts” aimed at securing a “comprehensive, just, and lasting peace in the Middle East.”

—Reuters