JERUSALEM (JTA) — A Palestinian resolution calling for an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem by the end of 2017 was submitted to the U.N. Security Council.
Jordan on Wednesday submitted the draft resolution on behalf of the Palestinians. A vote could come as early as Thursday afternoon, though it is more likely the 15-member council will negotiate to arrive at a text that is acceptable to most members, including the United States.
The resolution calls for a negotiated peace between Israel and the Palestinians, to come within one year, based on the 1967 borders with Jerusalem as a shared capital. It also calls for Israel to halt construction in the settlements.
Nine votes are needed to pass a resolution. The five permanent members of the Security Council — China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States — can use their veto. Israel and the Palestinians have spoken to Secretary of State John Kerry about the U.S. veto.
Three European states — France, Britain and Germany — also are drafting a Palestine resolution that calls for a final peace agreement in two years.
Israel’s foreign minister, Avigdor Liberman, on Thursday called the proposal a “Palestinian gimmick.”
“Certainly this will not hasten an agreement because without Israel’s consent, nothing will change,” Liberman said in a statement.
Liberman also questioned why the Security Council is “wasting time” on the proposal when it should be dealing with this week’s attacks in Australia and Pakistan, or discussing the deadly civil war in Syria.
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