Arab League to press for Palestinian state
Print Edition
ARAB League foreign ministers yesterday agreed to formally present a draft resolution to the United Nations Security Council that will set a timeframe for the creation of a Palestinian state.
The ministers set up a committee comprising Kuwait, Mauritania, Jordan and Arab League chief Nabil al-Araby to seek international backing for the resolution, they said in a closing statement.
The statement did not specify when the resolution would be presented but diplomatic sources have said Jordan, an Arab member in the Security Council, could present the draft within days.
In October, the Palestinians informally shared a draft resolution with Arab states and some council members, calling for an end to Israeli occupation by November 2016.
The text was not formally circulated to the full 15-nation Security Council, a move that can only be done by a council member. It was unclear at the time if it would be put to a vote.
Arab states had already given their blessing to the idea of presenting a resolution to the Security Council but had yet to agree a finalized draft and set a date to present it.
Speaking at the opening of an Arab League session in Cairo, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the resolution would be discussed “in order to deliver it to the Security Council.”
He told the meeting he is moving ahead with a proposed UN Security Council resolution on setting a November 2016 deadline to end the Israeli occupation.
Abbas said he had put off such a step repeatedly in response to requests from Washington, but: “We can’t wait any longer.” “The status quo is not sustainable any longer, especially at a time when the Israeli government is continuing its attacks, its settlements, demolishing houses, confiscating lands and imposing facts on the ground,” he said.
“This is a basic issue, this is a very important issue, and the Arab League agrees with it,” said Arab League Chief Nabil Elaraby.
Two-state solution
Palestinians seek statehood in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and blockaded Gaza Strip with East Jerusalem as their capital — lands captured by Israel in a 1967 war.
Israel accepts the idea of a “two-state solution” of an independent and democratic Palestinian state living alongside Israel, but has not accepted the 1967 borders as the basis for final negotiations, citing security and other concerns.
The latest round of efforts to forge a two-state solution collapsed in April and relations between the two sides have worsened since a 50-day war between Israel and Hamas militants. Palestinians have since said they see little choice but to push unilaterally for statehood.
Diplomats have said that France, Britain and Germany are preparing a separate text to end the conflict, which could be accelerated if the Palestinian draft is put forward.
France said on Friday it will recognize a Palestinian state if a final international effort to overcome the impasse between Israelis and Palestinians failed.
French parliamentarians will hold a symbolic vote on Tuesday on whether the French government should recognize Palestine as a state, after similar moves in Sweden, Britain, Ireland and Spain.
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