Selasa 16 Dec 2014 09:00 WIB

Palestinians anxious for ending occupation

Palestine
Foto: AP/Mohammed Ballas
Palestine

REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, RAMALLAH -- The Palestinians await with anxiety the results of the exerted international efforts after they decided to apply to the UN Security Council on Wednesday for setting up a timetable to end the Israeli occupation and establishing a state on 1967 borders.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat is scheduled to meet with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in London on Tuesday upon the latter's request to see what the Palestinians are planning to do within the coming 48 hours, which are decisive for the Palestinians.

Before the meeting, Kerry met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday in Rome over the Palestinian intentions to demand an end of the Israeli occupation and establish a Palestinian state.

Israeli Radio, which quoted sources closed to Netanyahu, reported that the United States opposes the Palestinians' move and consider it a unilateral action that may oblige Israel to accept a Palestinian state, adding "the U.S. hasn't changed its position concerning its rejection to unilateral acts."

After the meeting with Erekat, Kerry will meet in France with a high-ranking Arab League delegation that will include a number of Arab states foreign ministers. The meeting will debate the Palestinians' move to the UN Security Council.

Late on Sunday night, the Palestinian leadership, which convened in Ramallah, declared that it decided to apply to the UN Security Council on Wednesday for ending the occupation on the territories occupied by Israel in 1967.

In 2011, the Palestinians failed to gain a full consensus at the UN Security Council. However, this time, they believe that another try may succeed, and in case it doesn't succeed, they will go for joining the international agencies and treaties.

The move, backed by the Arab League, was made after the peace talks had been stalled since March while tension between the two sides has been growing following tightened Israeli measures and expansion of settlement activities in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

Tension between the two sides reached its peak when Israel waged a large-scale military air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip that lasted for 50 days and ended on Aug. 26. The Israeli offensive killed around 2,200 Palestinians and wounded more than 11,000 others.

Pressure on the Palestinian leadership increased, demanding to sue Israeli political and military leaders in the International Criminal Court (ICC) and to freeze security coordination with Israel, after the Israeli assaults on the Palestinians in the West Bank and Jerusalem increased.

However, the Palestinian leadership links all these measure with what will be the decision of the UN Security Council after their Arab-backed draft resolution is put for voting. The leadership threatened that in case of failure, it has other escalating measures it will go for in the future.

So far, the Palestinians are not certain that they will gain the votes of nine Security Council members in favor of their resolution because the United States, which said it is against unilateral actions, may veto the resolution. However, France presented a proposal on renewing the stalled talks between the two sides.

The Palestinian Minister of Foreign Affairs Reyad el-Malki said earlier that the Palestinians can accept the French initiative on basis of considering the 1967 borders are the borders of the Palestinian state and have to be based on setting up a timetable for ending the Israeli occupation.

Reyad Mansour, Palestinian representative at the UN, said earlier that there are intensive contacts with several European countries to agree on a form of a resolution that will be presented to the Security Council. The Palestinian leadership decided not to make its demands very high in the resolution.

Jamil Shehada, member in Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) , told Xinhua that in case the Palestinians fail at the UN Security Council to gain enough support for the resolution, then they will go for joining international agencies and treaties, including the ICC.

Samih Shbaib, West Bank-based political analyst, told Xinhua he expects that the United States this time may not use the veto "because this will not serve the U.S. interests and keep it isolated by the international community."

sumber : Antara
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