The UK will not support tougher Palestinian UN statehood resolution

The UK on Tuesday said it cannot support a new Palestinian draft UN resolution that calls for a peace agreement within a year and an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories by the end of 2017.

The text, which was submitted by current Security Council member Jordan on Monday, contains new provisions on declaring East Jerusalem the capital of a future Palestinian state, settling the issue of Palestinian prisoner releases, and halting Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Reporters asked UK ambassador to the UN, Mark Lyall Grant whether his country could support the new Palestinian draft.

“Well, no,” he said. “There’s some difficulties with the text – particularly language on time scales, new language on refugees. So I think we would have some difficulties.”

Grant did not state whether he will use the UK’s veto power in the Security Council to stop the resolution from passing. The other permanent council members that hold a veto are China, France, the US and Russia.

A date and time for the vote has not been set and on Tuesday Jordan’s ambassador to the UN said his country was coordinating with the Palestinians to agree on when to submit the resolution.

"Both our leaderships will be discussing, to find the best way and the best timing to vote on the Security Council resolution," Jordanian Ambassador Dina Kawar told reporters.

Meanwhile, Palestinian envoy Riyad Mansour said the vote could "realistically" take place on Tuesday, though no firm date has been confirmed.

To pass, the motion requires a “yes” vote from at least nine of the 15 council members, but it can be vetoed by any of the council's five permanent members, including the United States.

It remains unclear if the Palestinians will seek a quick vote or hold off until January 1, when five new members join the Security Council.

Angola, Malaysia, New Zealand, Spain and Venezuela will begin their two-year stint, replacing Argentina, Australia, Luxembourg, Rwanda and South Korea.

US strongly opposed to resolution

The US, a staunch supporter of Israel, has said it would not support the resolution, as US State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke said it “sets arbitrary deadlines”.

“And those are more likely to curtail useful negotiations than to bring them to a successful conclusion,” he said. “We think that the resolution fails to account for Israel's legitimate security needs, and the satisfaction of those needs, of course, integral to a sustainable settlement.”

A first version of the resolution was formally presented to the council on December 17.

Discussions on the draft resolution come amid mounting international alarm over the ongoing violence and the failure to restart negotiations.

Israeli troops shot dead a 17-year-old Palestinian teen in the occupied West Bank during a stone-throwing incident Monday near the northern city of Nablus.

The Palestinians have warned that if the bid to win support for a UN resolution fails, they are prepared to join the International Criminal Court to file suits against Israel.

Hamas: 'resolution contains massive concessions'

Meanwhile, Hamas on Sunday called for the immediate withdrawal of a Palestinian draft resolution filed at the UN Security Council to set a timetable for Israel's pull-out from Palestinian territories it has been occupying since 1967.

"The draft resolution contains massive concessions," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said.

He added in a statement that these "concessions" violate what he called the Palestinian people's "non-negotiable rights."

Earlier this month, Jordan, which enjoys non-permanent Security Council membership, submitted a draft resolution prepared by the Palestinian Authority which, if passed, would bind Israel to a November 2017 deadline for withdrawal from Palestinian territories occupied in 1967.

The blueprint also names East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state based on the pre-1967 borders.

"The whole of Jerusalem is Palestinian," Abu Zuhri said. "This cannot be negotiated," he added, noting that the Palestinian draft resolution at the Security Council did not represent all Palestinians.

Abu Zuhri lashed out at what he described as the "loose" wording of the draft resolution, especially when it comes to the right of millions of Palestinians to return to their original homes in Palestine.

"It [the resolution] does not clearly state that the right of return for Palestinians is fundamental and cannot be violated," Abu Zuhri said.

"This blueprint gives the occupation more legitimacy than it had ever dreamed of," he added, expecting the draft resolution to be used in the future against the Palestinian cause itself.

The Hamas spokesman went on to call on the Arab League, which backs the resolution, not to give it a political cover.