Palestinians short on votes for UN Security Council resolution

Ben Sales

TEL AVIV (JTA) — The Palestinian Authority has not yet secured the nine votes needed to approve a United Nations Security Council resolution setting a deadline for Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank.

Senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat told a Nazareth-based radio station Monday that Palestinians have yet to secure a majority of the council, according to Haaretz.

The proposal, which calls for Israel to withdraw from the West Bank within two years, is set to come before the Security Council Wednesday. Majority approval could force a United States veto of the resolution, though the United States has yet to say whether it will use its veto.

Several European nations are formulating an alternate proposal calling for the establishment of a Palestinian state through negotiations within two years. According to the Times of Israel, the European resolution may include reference to Israel’s Jewish character. Such recognition was a sticking point during this year’s failed Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted that the Palestinian Authority recognize Israel as a Jewish state, a provision Palestinian negotiators strongly opposed.