ME not doing enough for Palestinians

US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley on Tuesday criticized Middle Eastern countries for not doing enough to help Palestinians and move the peace process forward, saying that they need to "step up."

"It is time for the regional states in particular to step up and really help the Palestinian people, instead of just making speeches thousands of miles away," Haley said at a monthly meeting of the UN Security Council on the Middle East.

Haley highlighted American assistance to the Palestinians, saying that Washington provided $300 million in bilateral aid last year, and "over six billion -- with a B -- dollars in bilateral assistance to Palestinians" since 1993.

"Last year, Iran's contribution to UNRWA was zero. Algeria's contribution to UNRWA was zero. Tunisia's contribution to UNRWA was zero," Haley said.

Saudi Arabia has over the past two decades provided "$6 billion to the Palestinians in humanitarian assistance, development aid and relief," its ambassador, Abdallah Al-Mouallimi, responded.

Olof Skoog of Sweden, the current president of the Security Council, let his frustration with US policy show, saying: "Everyone is waiting for a credible peace plan."

"We haven't seen that yet. It is now about a year since we were informed about a plan and we have not seen it yet. It is a problem that there is no credible plan on the table," Skoog said.