Arabs to go to UN against Jewish settlements

[Bilal Mahmud المكافح المخلص]

RAMALLAH - The Palestinians and Arabs will shortly bring a draft resolution before the UN Security Council calling on

Arabs will shortly bring draft resolution before Security Council to halt Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territories.

 

 Israel to halt Jewish settlements in Palestinian territories and Jerusalem, a senior Palestinian official said on Thursday.

"We will go before the Security Council in the coming days to stop the Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories, especially Jerusalem, capital of a Palestinian state, which is a red line for all Palestinians and Arabs," said Nabil Abu Rudeina, spokesman of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.

"We will present a Palestinian and Arab resolution," he said from Brazil, where he is accompanying Abbas on an official visit.

Following a breakdown of direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians over settlements, the Arab League announced on December 15 that it would seek a Security Council resolution against Israel, ordering a halt to Jewish settlements.

It also called on the United States, which has vetoed resolutions against Israel in the past, not to obstruct such a move.

The draft resolution is due to come before the United Nations in January, when Bosnia takes the rotating presidency of the Security Council from the United States.

Direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians launched on September 2 were suspended three weeks later after an Israeli moratorium on settlement building expired and the Jewish state refused to renew it.