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WAR REPORT
UN will 'take time' to decide on Palestinian resolution
by Staff Writers
United Nations, United States (AFP) Dec 18, 2014


Arab League hopes US will not veto UN Palestinian resolution
Cairo (AFP) Dec 18, 2014 - The Arab League said Thursday it hoped the United States would not veto a draft UN Security Council resolution laying out the terms of a final peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians.

Jordan presented the draft Wednesday on behalf of the Palestinians, who have sought to avoid a clash with Washington by saying they are open to negotiations on the text.

It would set a 12-month deadline for wrapping up negotiations on a final settlement and the end of 2017 as the time frame for completing an Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian territories.

"We hope that the United States will not use its veto," said the Arab League's deputy secretary general for Palestinian affairs, Mohammed Sobeih.

"The use of the American veto will harm the Palestinian cause and will be used by extremists as an instrument to pursue settlement (of Jews in the occupied territories) and ruin the peace process," he told journalists.

But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said "we will not accept attempts to dictate to us unilateral moves on a limited timetable."

And the United States, holding veto power as one of the council's five permanent members, has repeatedly vetoed resolutions seen as undermining its close ally Israel.

The US administration opposes moves to bind negotiators' hands through a UN resolution -- particularly any attempt to set a deadline for the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the West Bank.

But US Secretary of State John Kerry has said the resolution would not present a problem if it can avoid exacerbating tensions in the region.

The Palestinians had said they wanted a quick vote but backed away, apparently under pressure from Arab countries including Jordan, which is seeking a draft that will be acceptable to the United States.

A US veto risks angering key Arab allies, including partners in the US-led coalition carrying out air strikes against the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq.

The latest round of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, shepherded by Kerry, collapsed in April amid mutual recriminations.

This summer's war in Gaza followed, and tensions have boiled over in the West Bank and east Jerusalem with a series of deadly attacks on Israelis and frequent clashes between security forces and stone-throwing Palestinians.

Negotiations on a draft UN resolution that sets terms for a final Israeli-Palestinian peace deal will take time, Jordan said Thursday, indicating that a Security Council vote was not imminent.

Jordan presented the measure on Wednesday to the UN Security Council on behalf of the Palestinians, who said they were open to negotiations on the text.

"It will take time," Jordan's UN ambassador Dina Kawar told reporters.

Jordan along with Britain and France were hoping to achieve a draft resolution that could be adopted by consensus at the Security Council and will not be vetoed by the United States.

But the United States said Thursday it did not support the current resolution.

"It is not something that we would support," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters.

Washington has repeatedly vetoed Security Council resolutions seen as undermining its close ally Israel.

The Palestinian draft resolution sets a 12-month deadline for wrapping up negotiations on a final settlement and the end of 2017 as the timeframe for completing an Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian territories.

A final peace deal would pave the way to the creation of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as a shared capital, according to the text.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Israel would never accept "unilateral diktats" while his Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman dismissed the draft as a "Palestinian gimmick."

The US administration opposes moves to bind negotiators' hands through a UN resolution -- particularly any attempt to set a deadline for the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the West Bank.

- Looking for consensus -

"There is not the basis for consensus on the text as drafted and that is why we need to do some work," said a Security Council diplomat.

"The issue now is how do we get something that really does command consensus. The objective that we have is to achieve consensus, which means we want to have a text that everybody can agree," said the diplomat, who asked not to be named.

France, working with Britain and Germany, was pressing on with a separate text on reviving the peace process, but it was unclear when that effort would yield results.

"We are continuing our work on a consensus text. We are working on the European text and we will see if we can make progress," said a European diplomat.

Adoption of a Security Council resolution on reviving Israeli-Palestinian peace talks would mark a key step after the United States failed in a high-profile bid to restart the press in April.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has warned that without a return to peace, violence will continue on the ground and war could be re-ignited following the 50 days of bloodshed in Gaza this summer.

With Israel deep in an election campaign for March polls, there is concern that the resolution could play into the hands of hardliners and that delaying UN action would be wise.

"Palestinians now feeling they want to rush ahead, the rest of us quite frankly not sure that is a good idea this side of the Israeli elections that we're now going to have in March," said a Western diplomat.

Diplomatic sources suggested the Palestinians may be willing to hold off on a Security Council vote if they get assurances that Israel will freeze settlement construction until a way forward can be decided.


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