Palestine Pursues UN Bid Amid Threat of US Veto
The Palestinians will present a bid for statehood to the UN Security Council (USNC) on Wednesday amid reports that Washington and Tel Aviv are formulating a joint position against the Palestinian move at the headquarters of the world body, where the US has persistently used its veto privilege to block any resolution not favored by the Israeli regime, Press TV reported.
However, Palestinian officials appear adamant about the move, saying they will submit to the council the draft resolution that would set a two-year deadline on the Israeli forces to withdraw from occupied Palestinian lands.
“We will submit our project to the UN Security Council tomorrow,” said an unnamed senior advisor to Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas on Tuesday.
Top Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat also made similar remarks during talks with US Secretary of State John Kerry in London, where Washington’s top diplomat warned that his government will move to block any resolution on an independent Palestinian state.
Kerry has reportedly held three days of intense talks in Europe in an attempt to head off a pre-Christmas crisis at the UNSC.
Erakat, meanwhile, warned that a US veto would lead the Palestinians toward applying for membership in a number of international organizations, including the International Criminal Court (ICC), where they would be able to sue the Israeli regime for war crimes.
Washington is opposed to the Palestinian bid to join the ICC, too.
In the past few months, the Palestinian national unity government has been pushing for a UN resolution that determines the borders of a future Palestinian state based on the pre-1967 lines.
In 1967, Israel occupied the West Bank, East Jerusalem al-Quds and the Gaza Strip but withdrew from Gaza and lay a siege to it in 2005.
Palestinians are seeking to create an independent state on the territories of the West Bank, East Jerusalem al-Quds and the Gaza Strip.
