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.

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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.

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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)