League hopes US won't veto Palestinian resolution

(MENAFN- Gulf Times) The Arab League said yesterday it hoped the US 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 on 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 US will not use its veto," said the Arab League's deputy secretary general for Palestinian affairs, Mohamed 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 US, 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 US.

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.

In Jerusalem, Israel's foreign minister described draft resolution as a gimmick.

"Certainly this will not hasten an agreement because without Israel's consent, nothing will change," Avigdor Lieberman said in a statement.

Lieberman said the unilateral move at the UN would only deepen the decades-old conflict.

"It would be better if the Security Council dealt with matters truly important to the citizens of the world, such as the murderous attacks this week in Australia and Pakistan, or discuss events in Syria and Libya, and not waste time on the Palestinian's gimmicks," he said.

The Palestinians began circulating a draft at the end of September, after President Mahmoud Abbas told the UN General Assembly that it was time to fast-track Palestinian statehood.

The text as it stood with a firm deadline of November 2016 as the end of Israeli occupation had no chance of approval.

But the threat of the draft seems to have been enough to jolt the international community into action.

France stepped into the fray last month and, with Britain and Germany, began discussing options for a separate resolution.

Keen to head off a diplomatic crisis, Kerry held a flurry of meetings this week with Netanyahu, Palestinian negotiators and European ministers.

The US was concerned that a UN resolution could play into the hands of Israeli hardliners as the country heads towards elections in March and suggested it could be delayed.

Frustration with the stalled peace process has grown in Europe, where lawmakers in Britain, France and Spain have all called in recent weeks for the recognition of a Palestinian state.