Story highlights Nations disagree on "peace-loving state" criterion

Commitee studying whether Palestinians should be admitted

Diplomat says council's members are split into three groups

U.S. has said it will veto Palestinian resolution

A draft report from a U.N. Security Council committee studying whether Palestinians should be accepted as a U.N. member state was "unable to make a unanimous recommendation" to the council.

The report, which was circulated to the 15 members of the council Tuesday and was obtained by CNN, will be looked over by the members in the next 24 hours, and any further comments will be reconciled into a final report and officially presented to the Security Council on Friday.

According to the report, the views of the Security Council committee were split into three groups: those countries that supported Palestinian membership, those that couldn't support it at this time and abstention was envisaged in the event of a vote, and those countries that said the requirements were not met and couldn't vote for recommendation.

Last week, it was reported that France, the United Kingdom and Colombia were likely to abstain on any vote for Palestinian membership if a resolution were brought up in the Security Council, and the U.S. has said that it would veto any such resolution.

The four-page report states the various countries' positions on the statehood issue; however, it does not name each country's recommendation nor how many countries agree with the different positions.

One of the criteria experts of the committee considered for statehood was whether Palestine "was a peace-loving State, and was willing and able to carry out the obligations contained in the (U.N.) Charter." While one view by members expressed that Palestine "fulfilled this criterion" of "peace-loving," another view questioned that assessment "since (the Palestinian political group) Hamas refused to renounce terrorism and violence, and had the stated aim of destroying Israel."

The report also expressed a view that "the Committee's work, whatever its outcome, should be mindful of the broader political context" and that "the Committee's work should not harm the prospects of the resumption of peace talks."

One suggestion in the report was that "as an intermediate step, the General Assembly should adopt a resolution by which Palestine would be made an Observer State."