Palestinians to ask U.N. for recognition of statehood and demand end to occupation
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Version 0 of 1. Arab nations on Monday endorsed a Palestinian proposal for the U.N. Security Council to set a 2017 deadline for Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank, a return to the borders before the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and recognition of a Palestinian state, according to Jordanian and Palestinian officials. Israel and the United States both objected strenuously to the United Nations weighing in via a resolution, which would also call for a negotiated peace settlement within a year and envision East Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian state, according to reports in the Palestinian news media. The Palestinian Authority hopes for a vote soon by the Security Council. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas recently brushed off entreaties from Secretary of State John F. Kerry to table the measure and notified Kerry in a phone call that he was moving ahead. The resolution is almost guaranteed to fail. It is not clear whether the measure has the necessary nine votes from the 15 Security Council members. But even if it passes, the United States, a permanent member of the council, would almost certainly veto it. A State Department official said Monday that the resolution was not constructive. “We think it sets arbitrary deadlines for reaching a peace agreement and for Israel’s withdrawal from the West Bank,” said spokesman Jeff Rathke, adding that the measure did not address Israel’s security needs. “We do not believe this resolution advances the goal of a two-state solution,” he said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that if the United Nations does not reject the resolution, “we will.” The Palestinian Authority is “seeking to impose on us a diktat that would undermine Israel’s security, put its future in peril,” Netanyahu said in a statement. “Israel will oppose conditions that endanger our future.” Since 2012, Palestine has been a “non-member observer state” at the United Nations. The resolution is being submitted by Jordan, current president of the Security Council. The effort is an attempt to increase international pressure on Israel and an expression of disenchantment with the United States. Kerry spent nine months trying to broker a peace deal before talks collapsed in April after the Palestine Liberation Organization and the militant Islamic group Hamas agreed to form a unified government. Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat has said that if the U.N. resolution fails, the Palestinian Authority will go to other international organizations, such as the International Criminal Court, to file complaints against Israel. Tensions between Israelis and Palestinians have been running high since the 50-day war this summer between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. On Monday, a Palestinian youth was reportedly shot and killed by Israeli soldiers attempting to arrest him for throwing rocks at cars near his village in the West Bank. Palestinian news agency Maan said he was the 50th Palestinian killed in the West Bank by the Israeli military this year. Israeli citizens have also experienced an increase in violent attacks. At least 12 Israelis have been killed in attacks by Palestinians in recent months, both in Israel and the West Bank. The most recent incident, on Thursday, left an 11-year-old Israeli girl in critical condition after a firebomb was thrown at a car in which she was riding. The war in Gaza has also contributed to a surge of pro-Palestinian sentiment in Europe. Nonbinding resolutions in support of a Palestinian state have passed in the legislatures of Ireland, Britain, France, Belgium and Spain. In October, Sweden became the first European Union nation to formally recognize Palestinian statehood. Then in mid-December, the European Parliament voted to support in “principle the recognition of Palestinian statehood and the two-state solution, and believes these should go hand in hand with the development of peace talks, which should be advanced.” Eglash reported from Jerusalem. |