Palestinians push UN bid for statehood

The Palestinians pressed ahead on Wednesday with a UN draft resolution that would set a course toward statehood, ratcheting up pressure on the United States and Israel to join a renewed peace effort.

The Palestinian move at the United Nations came as the European parliament overwhelmingly backed recognition of a Palestinian state, the latest assembly in Europe to adopt a motion to that end.

Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Malki said the draft would be submitted to the Security Council after the Palestinians agreed with France on a merged text.

Arab ambassadors were set to meet at the United Nations to endorse the text and formally decide on whether Jordan, a Security Council member, will submit the measure.

An Arab-backed draft of the text had previously set a deadline of November 2016 for Israel to withdraw from the occupied territories, but France has pushed for a softer resolution that would instead set a timeframe for negotiations on a final settlement.

The new text would set a two-year deadline for wrapping up negotiations on a final agreement that would provide for a new Palestinian state with Jerusalem as the shared capital. 

No firm deadline on an ending the Israeli occupation would be included but the resolution would call for a phased withdrawal of Israeli security forces over an agreed transition period. 

"The draft that will be presented today (Wednesday) is the French draft based on Palestinian observations and decisions," Malki told AFP.

"It will be presented to the Security Council as a blueprint, and could be put to a vote 24 hours after that," he added.

Jordan showed its reluctance to endorse the text, with the ambassador suggesting that a clash should be avoided at the UN Security Council over how to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.

"We have to see with the Palestinians whether they would want to go with the text as is and risk whatever comes, or we can discuss and try to get something consensual," Ambassador Dina Kawar told AFP.

Frustration with the stalled peace process has also grown in Europe, where lawmakers in Britain, France and Spain have all called in recent weeks for the recognition of a Palestinian state.

Even Washington has expressed growing frustration with Israeli policies, including the continued expansion of settlements across Palestinian territories.

Another US veto also risks angering key Arab allies, including partners in the US-led coalition carrying out air strikes against the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq.

US Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters at the State Department that the US had no problem with Palestinians filing a resolution, provided "it's done in the spirit of working with people to see how we could proceed forward in a thoughtful way that solves the problem doesn't make it worse".

Kerry added it would be "premature to comment on language we haven't seen, a process that has not yet fully taken shape".

Hamas welcomes EU court ruling

An EU court on Wednesday ordered the removal of Hamas from its terror blacklist, drawing an angry response from Netanyahu.

"It seems that too many in Europe, on whose soil six million Jews were slaughtered, have learned nothing," he said.

"But we in Israel, we've learned. We'll continue to defend our people and our state against the forces of terror and tyranny and hypocrisy," he said at the start of a meeting with US Republican Senator-elect Joni Ernst.

The General Court of the European Union ruled Wednesday that the original listing of the Hamas in 2001 was based not on sound legal judgements but on conclusions derived from the media and the Internet.

The US on Wednesday urged the EU to keep up its sanctions against Hamas, saying there was "no change" in US policy.

"We will continue to work closely with the European Union on Hamas-related issues. We believe that the EU should maintain its terrorism sanctions on Hamas," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.

"The US position on Hamas has not changed; Hamas is a designated foreign terrorist organization," she told reporters.

The EU insisted that it too still viewed Hamas as a terrorist group, saying the ruling by the General Court of the European Union was based on a technicality and that it might appeal the decision.

But the head of Hamas' political bureau, Khaled Meshaal, welcomed the EU court ruling.

"We believe that this step by the General Court of the European Union, along with the initiatives made last week by a number of EU states and the Swedish government to recognise a Palestinian state and the rights of the Palestinian people, are all considered important steps that must be followed through in the context of setting the record straight and making the historical mistake against the Palestinian people right again," he told Middle East Monitor.

Geneva Convention calls on Israel to obey international law

Meanwhile, Switzerland gathered diplomats from 126 of the 196 signatories of the Geneva Conventions to discuss protections for civilians, fulfilling a five-year-old request for such a conference from the UN General Assembly.

Paul Fivat, Switzerland's special ambassador for the Geneva Conventions, said the intention was "not to accuse, it was not a tribunal... it was a place simply for the parties to reiterate what is international law".

"This declaration is a signal that is being sent to conflicting parties, especially the civilian populations, that there is a law which is protecting their interests," he told reporters.

The Palestinians warn they may seek to sign up to the International Criminal Court and have threatened to file a suit against Israel over its July-August war against the Gaza Strip, in which more than 2,000 Palestinians were killed, most of them civilians.

A 10-point declaration was adopted by consensus among 126 of the 196 parties to the Convention, reiterating that international humanitarian law must be implemented in the conflict between Israel and Palestine.

The declaration stated that "all serious violations of international humanitarian law must be investigated and that all those responsible should be brought to justice."

It also expressed concerns about the construction of Separation Wall in the occupied Palestinian territory and the closure of the Gaza Strip as well as the continuation of Israeli settlement in the occupied territories. 

The declaration also indicated that indiscriminate attacks on civilians, schools and hospitals are forbidden. 

Switzerland proceeded with hosting a summit on Israeli-Palestinian relations on Wednesday despite diplomatic pressure from Israel, the US, Canada and Australia.