The United States has clarified that it would oppose an amended version of a controversial Palestinian-led United Nations Security Council resolution, should it come to a vote.
The US staked out its position after Arab delegations endorsed the new draft, which takes more hard line positions than an earlier draft submitted on 17 December.
US State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke said that the new resolution “sets arbitrary deadlines” and is “more likely to curtail useful negotiations than to bring them to a successful conclusion.”
The original resolution called for ‘’a 12-month deadline on peace negotiations’’ and an ‘’Israeli withdrawal from occupied territory by the end of 2017.’’
The earlier text outlined an accord based on the pre-1967 borders with “Jerusalem as the shared capital of the two States.” However, the latest version of the motion is reportedly more rigid, referring only to East Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian state, dropping references to territorial swaps, and adding clauses relating to the release of Palestinian prisoners.
It remains unclear when a vote on the amended motion might take place.
Whilst Palestinian negotiator Saeb Eerekat said on Sunday he expected a vote this week, Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki suggested that the move could be delayed until January. On 1 January, countries considered more sympathetic to the Palestinians are set to be co-opted to the UN Security Council.
The US State Department spokesperson added that “the resolution fails to account for Israel’s legitimate security needs, and the satisfaction of those needs, of course, [is] integral to a sustainable settlement.”
The United States has long maintained that it would veto a resolution which attempted to impose a one-sided solution without recognizing Israel’s security concerns.
Whilst European states have not yet responded to the draft, it seems unlikely they would support the new version, which endorses Palestinian positions regarded by Israel as maximalist.
The three leading member countries of the European Union – France, Germany and Britain – had drafted a UN Security Council resolution that was meant to act as a counterbalance to the extreme, one-sided resolution drafted by the Palestinians.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during a meeting in Jerusalem with Indiana Govenor Mike Pence that he expects “the international community — at least the responsible members of that community — to oppose… this UN Security Council resolution because what we need always is direct negotiations and not imposed conditions.”
"We expect the international community, at least the responsible members of that community to oppose vigorously this UN diktat, this UN Security Council resolution because what we need always is direct negotiations and not imposed conditions," he continued. "But I want to guarantee you, to you and to the people of Israel: If the international community does not reject the Palestinian Authority's proposal, we will. Israel will oppose conditions that endanger our future."
"Israel and our civilization is under attack," Netanyahu declared. "The attacks come from Iran; the attacks come from the various Islamists. The attack is now coming on Israel from the Palestinian Authority seeking to impose on us a diktat that would undermine Israel's security, put its future in peril."
In an interview with The Jerusalem Post, Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein warned world leaders against creating a Palestinian state that would go to war with Israel.
‘’I tell them I don’t think it is a great idea to create a Palestinian state that we may have to attack a year from now because it will be an unlimited source of terrorism the way the Gaza Strip is,” he said.