Palestinians reject US amendment of UN bid on protecting Palestinians: official
Xinhua
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(File photo: Reuters)

A senior diplomat said Friday that the Palestinian Authority rejected the US amendment of a bid presented to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) which calls for an international protection for the Palestinians.

Riyad Mansour, the permanent representative of the state of Palestine in the UN, said in a statement released by the official Palestinian news agency WAFA that the current US amendment of the bid "is hostile to the Palestinian people."

"Washington is exerting pressure on the Security Council to postpone the vote on the bid after it tried to make changes to the text of the bid," said Mansour, referring to the bid presented by Kuwait to the UNSC that calls for protecting the Palestinians.

The Palestinian representative had earlier announced that if the United States vetoes the bid, "we will have other options, one of them is to go to the UN General Assembly, but so far we have to wait and see."

The Gaza Strip has been witnessing an escalation of conflict with Israel since the start of the Palestinian rallies and protests called "the Great March of Return" on March 30, during which 118 Palestinians have been killed, including 13 children, and thousands of others injured.

The participants in the rallies are calling for the right of return for the Palestinian refugees and putting an end to the 11-year Israeli blockade imposed on the coastal enclave since 2007 after Islamic Hamas movement seized control of the territory.