AFP, United Nations :
A draft resolution to revive talks on a final Israeli-Palestinian settlement is expected be presented to the UN Security Council by the middle of the month, the Palestinian Envoy to the United Nations said on Monday.
Palestinian representative Riyad Mansour said the text, being shepherded by France, is expected to lay out a time frame for negotiations on a final peace deal and possibly a second deadline for Palestinian statehood.
“The French are moving more and more, trying to bring all the European colleagues together, and I think that eventually they will succeed,” Mansour told AFP.
The French-led European initiative is expected to be discussed in Brussels today when US Secretary of State John Kerry holds talks with European ministers during a NATO meeting.
The position of the United States, which has repeatedly vetoed UN resolutions seen as pressuring Israel, will be crucial in deciding if the latest push at the United Nations stands a chance.
The Palestinians, backed by the Arab League, circulated a draft resolution at the end of September that called for ending the Israeli occupation by November 2016.
The text however ran into opposition from the United States and other members of the Council, opening the way for the Europeans to try to present an alternative draft.
Mansour said he expected a new draft to be submitted to the council “soon, possibly in the middle of the month,” with a vote to quickly follow.
The new resolution would pave the way for an international conference to launch what is widely seen as a final bid for an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal, with the involvement of all key international players.
Paris report adds: French lawmakers are set to vote on Tuesday to call on the government to recognize Palestine, a symbolic move that will not immediately affect France’s diplomatic stance but demonstrates growing European impatience with a stalled peace process.
While most developing countries recognize Palestine as a state, most Western European countries do not, supporting the Israeli and U.S. position that an independent Palestinian state should emerge from negotiations with Israel.
But European countries have grown increasingly frustrated with Israel, which since the collapse of the latest U.S.-sponsored talks in April has pressed on with construction of settlements in territory the Palestinians want for their state.
A draft resolution to revive talks on a final Israeli-Palestinian settlement is expected be presented to the UN Security Council by the middle of the month, the Palestinian Envoy to the United Nations said on Monday.
Palestinian representative Riyad Mansour said the text, being shepherded by France, is expected to lay out a time frame for negotiations on a final peace deal and possibly a second deadline for Palestinian statehood.
“The French are moving more and more, trying to bring all the European colleagues together, and I think that eventually they will succeed,” Mansour told AFP.
The French-led European initiative is expected to be discussed in Brussels today when US Secretary of State John Kerry holds talks with European ministers during a NATO meeting.
The position of the United States, which has repeatedly vetoed UN resolutions seen as pressuring Israel, will be crucial in deciding if the latest push at the United Nations stands a chance.
The Palestinians, backed by the Arab League, circulated a draft resolution at the end of September that called for ending the Israeli occupation by November 2016.
The text however ran into opposition from the United States and other members of the Council, opening the way for the Europeans to try to present an alternative draft.
Mansour said he expected a new draft to be submitted to the council “soon, possibly in the middle of the month,” with a vote to quickly follow.
The new resolution would pave the way for an international conference to launch what is widely seen as a final bid for an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal, with the involvement of all key international players.
Paris report adds: French lawmakers are set to vote on Tuesday to call on the government to recognize Palestine, a symbolic move that will not immediately affect France’s diplomatic stance but demonstrates growing European impatience with a stalled peace process.
While most developing countries recognize Palestine as a state, most Western European countries do not, supporting the Israeli and U.S. position that an independent Palestinian state should emerge from negotiations with Israel.
But European countries have grown increasingly frustrated with Israel, which since the collapse of the latest U.S.-sponsored talks in April has pressed on with construction of settlements in territory the Palestinians want for their state.
