Palestine to Push UN for Statehood Vote
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Palestinian officials said they will press ahead with a bid for statehood at the UN, despite a warning that the US would block the move, officials in Ramallah said.
"We will submit our project to the UN Security Council tomorrow (Wednesday)," a senior advisor to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told the AFP news agency late on Tuesday.
The draft resolution would call for a withdrawal of Israeli troops from occupied Palestinian territory within two years and a return to negotiations with a view to achieving a two-state solution.
Jordan will submit the resolution on behalf of the Palestinians since Palestine is an observer to the UN and not a full member state. Only member states can present a resolution to the Security Council.
"The only people who can bring a resolution to the council are the 15 members, and that's why certain countries, namely Jordan, are key," Al Jazeera's James Bays, reporting from New York, said.
France is putting together a more nuanced version of a draft to the Security Council setting a two-year timetable for concluding a peace treaty, without mentioning an Israeli withdrawal.
Palestinians officials meeting US Secretary of State John Kerry at talks in London, said they would go ahead as planned, receiving a sharp warning from Kerry that the US would veto the resolution, another Palestinian official said.
A State Department official made no mention of whether Kerry had threatened the Palestinians.
The US, Israel's closest ally, has consistently used its UN veto power to block moves it sees as anti-Israel.
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat reportedly told Washington, should it use its veto, the Palestinians would then apply to join a series of international organisations.
They include the International Criminal Court, another move opposed by the US, which fears the Palestinians will seek to try Israeli officials for alleged war crimes.