PALESTINE TO PUSH UN FOR STATEHOOD VOTE

Palestinians — **Palestinian officials have said they will press ahead with a bid for statehood at the UN.** (Photo: IINA)

Ramallah, 25 Safar 1436/18 December 2014 (MINA) – Palestinian officials have said they will press ahead with a bid for statehood at the UN, despite a warning that the US would block the move, officials in Ramallah said.

“We will submit our project to the UN Security Council tomorrow (Wednesday),” a senior adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Tuesday, International Islamic News Agency (IINA) quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

The draft resolution would call for a withdrawal of Israeli troops from occupied Palestinian territory within two years and a return to negotiations with a view to achieving a two-state solution by which Israel and a Palestinian state would co-exist.

Jordan will submit the resolution on behalf of the Palestinians since Palestine is an observer to the UN and not a full member state. Only member states can present a resolution to the Security Council.

France is putting together a more nuanced version of a draft to the Security Council setting a two-year timetable for concluding a peace treaty, without mentioning an Israeli withdrawal.

Palestinians officials meeting US Secretary of State John Kerry at talks in London, said they would go ahead as planned, receiving a sharp warning from Kerry that the US would veto the resolution, another Palestinian official said. A State Department official made no mention of whether Kerry had threatened the Palestinians.

The US, Israel’s closest ally, has consistently used its UN veto power to block moves it sees as anti-Israel.

France is putting together a more nuanced version of a draft to the Security Council setting a two-year timetable for concluding a peace treaty, without mentioning an Israeli withdrawal. (T/P011/P3)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)