Director of the Department of Middle East and Africa of the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine Andriy Zayets has expressed hope that the visit of Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman to Israel will take place in 2017.
“We hope that the visit of the Ukrainian premier to the state of Israel will happen next year. Let the emotions calm down. This time will allow us to make progress on specific issues, and then the PM’s visit will be even more effective than it would be today – on the day of the 25th anniversary of diplomatic relations between our countries,” he said on TV channel 5 on Dec. 26 evening.
Zayets also said that the Ukrainian side had well prepared for the vote on Resolution No. 2334 in the UN Security Council (UNSC) on the situation in the Middle East.
“We weighed the pros and cons, and as a result, the decision was made by the leadership, which has been implemented by the Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the United Nations,” the diplomat said.
As reported, on Dec. 23, 2016 the UNSC adopted resolution No. 2334, which urges Israel to stop building settlements in the Palestinian territories. All UNSC member states voted in favor of the above mentioned resolution except the U.S. which abstained, but didn’t use its right of veto.
The document contains the demand for Israel and Palestine to make steps to prevent acts of violence against civilians and to make an effort to begin “credible negotiations” on issues related to final status and affiliation of the disputed territories.
The Israeli side immediately reacted quite negatively to the results of voting. The Israeli media criticized Ukraine’s stance on the UNSC resolution.
Prime Minister Groysman postponed his visit to Israel, which was previously scheduled for Dec. 27-28.
On Dec. 26, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered all his ministers not to travel to the countries which voted against Israel in the UNSC for the next three weeks.
At the same time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine summoned the Israeli ambassador to Kyiv to clear up the situation with voting for the resolution of the UNSC and concerning the cancellation of the visit of the Ukrainian premier to Israel.
