TEMPO.CO, Ramallah – The Palestinians will present a draft resolution to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Wednesday. The draft will set a two-year deadline for Israel to end its occupation.
"The Palestinian leadership took a decision to go to the Security Council next Wednesday to vote on their project to end the occupation," senior Palestine Liberation Organization member Wassel Abu Yussef told AFP as quoted by Channel News Asia on Monday.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry declined to comment ahead of Monday’s meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Rome. Kerry arrived in Italy on Sunday for a meeting with leaders in Europe to support Palestinian statehood.
After Netanyahu called for elections in March, some European countries have pushed for a Palestinian resolution at the UNSC.
Kerry will arrive in London on Tuesday to meet Palestinian spokesperson Saeb Sarakat and Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi.
Jordan last month announced a draft Palestinian text setting November 2016 as a deadline for the end of the Israeli occupation. However, the draft ran into opposition from the U.S. because it set a two-year timetable for the withdrawal of the Israeli army from the West Bank.
Netanyahu has rejected all talks of withdrawing Israeli troops from East Jerusalem and the West Bank within two years. Pulling out now would bring "Islamic extremists to the suburbs of Tel Aviv and to the heart of Jerusalem," he said.
CHANNEL NEWS ASIA | ROSALINA
