The Palestinian Authority plans to submit a resolution, establishing a State of Palestine and ending the Israeli occupation, for a vote in the UN Security Council this week.
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Sunday evening that the resolution will be submitted by Monday and that he will meet with US Secretary of State John Kerry in the next two days, following Kerry’s meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Rome on Monday.
A member of the Palestinian negotiating team said they want the Security Council to vote on the resolution on Wednesday, the day after a meeting between Kerry and Arab foreign ministers in London.
However, another senior member of the negotiating team said that the Palestinians are still open to negotiating over the resolution, primarily with European representatives. Erekat also indicated that the Palestinian Authority is in discussion with the European representatives.
Before flying to Rome, Netanyahu said:
Israel will not accept attempts to dictate unilateral moves….
There are attempts to dictate terms that would harm Israel’s security and won’t bring about peace. We will fend off any such attempt that would only bring terrorism into the heart of the state. Even if there will be [attempts to] dictate, we will stand firm.
The Palestinian draft resolution calls for a state along the 1967 borders between Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza, with a two-year deadline for Israel to withdraw from the West Bank.
The move comes as several European legislatures have called on their Governments to consider recognition of the Palestinian State. The European Union’s Parliament is scheduled to debate the issue, and a conference of all signatories to the Geneva Conventions is planned in Switzerland on Wednesday.
