Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is flying to Rome Monday morning, where he will meet US Secretary of State John Kerry. Netanyahu will try to persuade the US to veto a motion that the Palestinian delegation to the UN intends to file this week with the UN Security Council (UNSC).
The Palestinian motion is being filed earlier than was previously thought. It asks the UNSC to recognize a Palestinian state and give Israel two years to “end the occupation” of Judea and Samaria.
The Obama administration and its European allies would like to use the Palestinian proposal to put pressure on Israel, but are also concerned that such a betrayal of Israel may have the effect of solidifying support for Netanyahu ahead of the upcoming elections.
Netanyahu had harsh criticism Sunday for the national parliaments worldwide that have been voting recently to recognize the Palestinian Authority (PA) as “the state of Palestine.”
“I suggest to the parliaments that are in a rush to vote, to listen once again to the words of the heads of Hamas in Gaza who call for the destruction of the state of Israel,” he said at the annual meeting of the Forum for Enlistment of the Christian Sector.
According to IDF Radio, the Palestinian resolution will probably not receive a majority this week and will thus fail on its own, the French resolution has a better chance of passing, and it is not known when it will be filed. The US may choose to veto this resolution, or it may dictate a more moderate formulation that will make it more palatable for Israel.
Minister Silvan Shalom said Monday morning that unilateral steps by the Palestinians will be met with unilateral steps by Israel.
Shalom told Voice of Israel public radio that unilateral declaration of independence is a violation of the Oslo accords and that if it receives international support, this would render all diplomatic agreements as void.
US ‘has not decided’
US officials told reporters accompanying Kerry on his plane to Rome that Washington wanted to learn more about the European position, saying the US administration had not yet decided whether to back or veto any UN resolution on the issue.
Kerry was first to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Sunday, before talks on Monday with Netanyahu.
In a hastily-arranged pre-Christmas diplomatic whirlwind, the top US diplomat will also meet for a few hours Monday in Paris with French, German and British foreign ministers and the new EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini.
He will then fly to London to meet with the chief PA negotiator Saeb Erekat and the secretary general of the Arab League on Tuesday.
Leave a Reply