Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry discussed the development of the Palestinian situation following the UN's rejection of its statehood bid, according to a Sunday Foreign Ministry statement. The Palestinian bid was presented to the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday, by Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas and Palestinian Chief Negotiator Saeb Erekat. The draft resolution called for Israel to withdraw from the Palestinian territories and establishment of the state of Palestine by 2017. The bid was circulated by Jordan on 17 December, a current member at the UNSC, and endorsed by Arab nations and several European Parliaments including France, Spain, Britain, Sweden, and Ireland. The final resolution was presented on 30 December. It had been hoped that the resolution would receive the Security Council's support, but was met with eight votes in favour, five abstentions and two votes against. The US was one of the vetoing powers in the council. Abbas, noting that "UNSC is not the end" and that "it's neither the first or last veto" Palestine will receive, appealed to the International Criminal Court (ICC) a day following the bid's rejection. Israel had described the Palestinian move as a "flagrant violation" of all treaties signed between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. The pledge to the ICC aims to hold Israel accountable for war crimes committed on Palestinian territories, including the increase in settlement activities, and the killing and detaining of Palestinians. Israel's responded to Abbas's ICC appeal by freezing the transfer of Palestinian tax funds amounting to 0.5bn Israeli New Shekel ($127.6m) collected by Israel on behalf of the Palestinians. The transfer was supposed to take place on Friday. Palestinian political organisations were divided over the bid, with Islamist organisation Hamas, which is in control of the Gaza Strip, describing the bid as "catastrophic". Foreign ministry spokesman Badr Abdelatty stressed Egypt's support for the Palestinian people and their aspirations to establish an independent state with its capital, East Jerusalem.
