New York - (AFP) - Agencies - The UN Security Council , in its session held on Tuesday evening, failed to reach a statement condemning settler attacks against Palestinians and their property in the town of Huwwara .

UN sources attributed the failure to issue the statement to the United States exerting great pressure to withdraw the draft resolution, and it threatened to use its veto.

Following a closed meeting of the Security Council, the Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, called on the council to "take action" to "protect" its civilian citizens after the attack by Israeli settlers on the village of Hawara in the occupied West Bank.

Mansour told reporters, "We believe it is the responsibility of the Security Council (...) to take measures to ensure the protection of the civilian population, especially after the criminal and terrorist act committed by the settlers in Hawara and the neighboring towns and villages."

The Security Council held this emergency meeting at the request of the United Arab Emirates, after the village of Hawara in the northern occupied West Bank, on Sunday night, was subjected to widespread vandalism and destruction, during which houses and cars were burned in an attack launched by settlers in retaliation for the killing of one of them.

Mansour added, "It would have been wonderful if the Security Council had gone there to see with its own eyes (...), to feel the horror in the heads and hearts of children, women and families."

Mansour made this statement, and the Maltese ambassador to the United Nations, Vanessa Frazier, stood by him, whose country assumed the rotating presidency of the Security Council during the month of February.

Frazier said that "all the countries around the table" of the Security Council agree that "we should try to find out if there are ways to end incitement to violence and promote dialogue."

"Both sides must refrain from violent actions and statements," she added.

For the first time in six years, the UN Security Council last week issued a statement condemning the Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The statement was issued unanimously by the 15 members of the Council, including the United States.

"We will continue to knock on the council's door, not only to speak with one voice, but for it to take other measures," Mansour said.

"Protection, protection, protection is what the Palestinian civilian population is asking for," he added.

Since the beginning of this year, violence and confrontations have killed 63 Palestinians, including fighters and civilians, some of whom are minors, and 11 Israelis, including three minors, as well as a Ukrainian woman, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli and Palestinian sources.

Israel has occupied the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since 1967. The Israeli settlements, where about 475,000 settlers live, are considered illegal under international law, while the number of Palestinians in the West Bank is 2.9 million.