By Mustafa Caglayan
NEW YORK
Jordan has filed a draft UN Security Council resolution in favor of setting a deadline for Israel to end its occupation of Palestinian land by the end of 2017.
The text was formally submitted to the council on Wednesday night following a lengthy Arab League meeting at the ambassadorial level at UN headquarters.
The draft resolution seeks "a just, lasting and comprehensive peaceful solution that brings an end to the Israeli occupation since 1967."
It fixes the end of 2017 as the deadline for Israeli security forces to fully withdraw from the occupied territories.
Israel has occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank since the 1967 Middle East War. It later annexed the holy city in 1980 and claimed it as its capital - a move never recognized by the international community.
The submission of a draft resolution means it could be put to a vote as soon as 24 hours later, but it does not guarantee it will come to a vote. In the past, two Arab-backed resolutions – one about the Gaza conflict and another on Israeli settlements deemed illegal – were never put to a vote as it was clear that they would not get the required support to come into force.
If put to a vote, the motion requires a “yes” vote from at least nine of the 15 council members to pass, but it can be vetoed by any of the five permanent members, including the U.S., a staunch ally of Israel.
On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Rome in a bid to ensure American support in blocking any UN move setting a deadline for Israel to end its occupation of the Palestinian territories.
American sources said that Kerry had stopped short of accepting Israel’s demand for a U.S. veto of the resolution, telling Netanyahu that Washington would continue to attempt mediation in the Middle East conflict.
The drafted text proposes "Jerusalem as the shared capital of the two states" and "Palestine as a full Member State of the United Nations."
It also urges both parties "to abstain from any unilateral and illegal actions, including settlement activities, that could undermine the viability of a two-state solution," referring to the UN-proposed solution that calls for an independent state of Palestine alongside the state of Israel.
Meanwhile, an alternative Security Council proposal, which calls for a resumption of peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians within two years, is also being discussed.
Kerry is said to be determined to seek support for the French proposal to present a compromise resolution at the Security Council. This resolution would push towards restarting negotiations and promoting the two-state solution without setting any deadline for Israeli withdrawal from the occupied Palestinian territories.
U.S.-brokered direct Palestinian-Israeli talks came to a halt in April when Israel refused to release a group of Palestinian prisoners despite earlier pledges to do so.
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