Palestinians push UN Security Council to condemn Trump plan, Israel

However, the resolution could then go to the UN General Assembly, where it is likely to be approved.

FEBRUARY 5, 2020 21:33

The United Nations General Assembly votes to adopt a draft resolution to deplore the use of excessive force by Israeli troops against Palestinian civilians at U.N. headquarters in New York, U.S., June 13, 2018 (photo credit: REUTERS/MIKE SEGAR) — The United Nations General Assembly votes to adopt a draft resolution to deplore the use of excessive force by Israeli troops against Palestinian civilians at U.N. headquarters in New York, U.S., June 13, 2018

(photo credit: REUTERS/MIKE SEGAR)

The Palestinian Authority began promoting a UN Security Council resolution to condemn US President Donald Trump’s peace plan and Israel on Wednesday.

The move came a day before Trump’s special adviser Jared Kushner was expected to present the plan to the Security Council and less than a week before Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas plans to address it next Tuesday.

The US is expected to veto the resolution. Trump’s “Peace to Prosperity” plan specifically discourages the Palestinians from taking unilateral action in international organizations as a step toward making peace with Israel and establishing a state.

However, the resolution could then go to the UN General Assembly, where it likely would be approved.

Abbas told Fatah leaders on Wednesday that the PA was “leading a diplomatic offensive” to explain the dangers of the Trump plan, which, he claimed, “aims to liquidate the Palestinian cause.” Abbas said that the plan will fail “like all others plots concocted against the Palestinian cause.”

Abbas said the purpose of the campaign was to rally Arab, Islamic and international support for the Palestinian position against the Trump plan.

The draft states that the US plan “breaches international law and the internationally-endorsed terms of reference for the achievement of a just, comprehensive and lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as enshrined in the relevant United Nations resolutions, and undermines the inalienable rights and national aspirations of the Palestinian people, including to self-determination and independence.”

The draft says settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem “are illegal and imperil the viability of the two-state solution,” relying on UN resolutions going back to 1967, and including Resolution 2334, the condemnation of Israeli settlement construction from 2016 that the US, under then-president Barack Obama, did not veto.

It goes on to condemn calls for settlement annexation, saying that doing so would break international law.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he will annex Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria after the March 2 election if he remains in office. Netanyahu previously said he would apply Israeli law to settlements this week, but backtracked following US pressure.

The draft resolution argues a two-state solution can only be based on pre-1967 lines, and says no changes can be unilaterally made to those lines.

Since “Palestine” is an observer at the UN rather than a member state, Tunisia and Indonesia have jointly proposed the resolution.

Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon slammed Abbas, saying: “Enough with the staged performances. Instead of coming to the UN, come to the negotiating table.

“Instead of promoting pointless moves, start acting to improve the reality in our region,” he added.

Meanwhile, PLO Secretary-General Saeb Erekat met in Ramallah on Wednesday with European Union diplomats and expressed appreciation for their stance toward the Trump plan. Erekat said he discussed future steps with the EU heads of missions, including Abbas’s speech at the UN next week. “Protecting international law is an international responsibility,” he said after the meeting. “A just and lasting peace is possible.”

Erekat urged the international community to reject the Trump plan because it “contradicts international law and legitimacy and the two-state solution on the basis of the 1967 borders.” He further called for endorsing Abbas’s appeal for holding an international conference for peace in the Middle East.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei called in a tweet on Wednesday for the Palestinians to start a war against Israel in response to the Trump peace plan.

The “remedy” is “bold resistance by the Palestinian nation and groups in order to force out the Zionist enemy and the US through jihad,” Khamenei tweeted.

The Iranian leader called on all other Muslims to support the Palestinian war on Israel.

Khamenei called Arab states willing to consider the plan in a positive light – including the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt – traitorous and incompetent.

The ayatollah of Iran slammed the US plan, writing: “The so-called plan of the ‘Deal of the Century’ is #foolish, because it will definitely NOT have any result.”

Khamenei added that it was foolish for the US to “sit, spend money, invite, create an uproar and unveil a plan that is doomed to failure.”

The US will “try to further their plot with bribes, weapons and enticements,” he stated.