Abbas defends UN Security Council draft resolution: This is how we end the occupation

PA president meets with Palestinian leadership in Ramallah, details contents of newly-submitted draft resolution to force an Israeli withdrawal by 2017.

By REUTERS
Mahmoud Abbas (photo credit: REUTERS)
Mahmoud Abbas
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas met on Thursday with his leadership and told them the details of a newly-submitted UN draft resolution which calls for an Israel withdrawal from Palestinian territories by 2017.
Jordan formally submitted  the draft to the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday.
In the West Bank city of Ramallah, Abbas met with the Palestinian leadership in his presidential compound where he updated them on the contents of the draft resolution.
"We submitted a draft to the United Nations Security Council aiming to have a deadline to end the Israeli occupation for the lands of the State of Palestine. We discussed with our brothers and friends during all the steps of arranging that draft," said Abbas.
The draft "assures the two-state solution which should be on the 1967 borders and Jerusalem as a capital for two states with east Jerusalem as a capital for the state of Palestine," he said.
It also calls for "an agreement for the Palestinian refugees according to the Arab peace initiative and UN Resolution 194," he added.
The draft resolution calls for a halt to all "settlements activities," according to Abbas. It also calls for security preparations to be put in place that allow for the presence of a third international party, Abbas stated.
"We welcome an international conference for negotiations, but the negotiations should not last more than a year," with "an end of the Israeli occupation for the State of Palestine before the end of  2017," Abbas added.
The Palestinian-drafted resolution was formally submitted to the 15-member council, which means it could be put to a vote as soon as 24 hours later, but it does not guarantee it will happen. Some drafts formally submitted have never been voted on.
Diplomats say negotiations on the text could take days or weeks. Jordan's UN envoy Dina Kawar said she hoped the council could reach a unanimous decision on the resolution.
An earlier Palestinian draft informally circulated to the council in October called for an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory by November 2016, but the United States and others found this text unacceptable.
Nine votes are needed to adopt a resolution, which would then force the United States, a close ally of Israel, to decide whether to veto it. US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday the United States had made "no determinations about language, approaches, specific resolutions, any of that."
France, Britain and Germany are also drafting a resolution, which French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said would propose concluding peace talks in two years. Other parameters for ending the conflict would also be set, diplomats said. The submitted Palestinian draft appears to reflect some European ideas.