UN Security Council
Photo: Reuters
Palestinians draft UN resolution against settlements
PA requests Security Council meeting to discuss resolution, hopes US will not use veto power
A Palestinian draft resolution condemning Israel's West Bank settlement activity is ready to be presented to the United Nations Security Council, a senior Palestinian official said on Wednesday.
Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator in peace talks with Israel, said he expected the resolution would be put to a Security Council vote in February, after the United States ends its presidency of the council.
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"We are not condemning Israel. We are condemning settlement activities and we hope the resolution will pass," Erekat said.
He said 15 nations had helped draft the proposal after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas requested a UN Security Council meeting to discuss settlement building in November.
"Something must be done on the international level to halt the settlement expansion which the Israeli government is undertaking in the West Bank, including Jerusalem," Nabil Abu Rdainah, Abbas's spokesman, said at the time.
As the Palestinians have only observer status at the United Nations, the resolution will be presented by a full member of the council.
Erekat said he hoped the United States would not use its veto to defeat the resolution and added that if it did not succeed at the Security Council, "we will go to the International Court of Justice."
Weeks of intensive US diplomatic efforts to revive direct peace talks between Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu collapsed when Israel refused to extend a 10-month partial building freeze in the West Bank.
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