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Photo: The United Nations Security Council meets at the UN on July 22, 2014 in New York City.
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Draft submitted 'in blue,' meaning text has been finalized and could be put to vote in 24-hours time.
By DPA and Jack Khoury | Dec. 18, 2014 | 2:13 AM

Jordan submitted the final version Wednesday of a draft UN Security Council resolution calling for an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories by 2017.

After a day of closed-door negotiations among Arab members of the United Nations, Jordan, which represents Arab countries on the Security Council, put the draft resolution "in blue," meaning the text of the draft has been finalized and could be put to a vote 24 hours later.

"It is going to be submitted in blue - as we are speaking - by our Jordanian brothers," Riyad Mansour, Palestinian ambassador to the UN, said late Wednesday. "We are going to move forward."

While the resolution could be put to a vote late Thursday, Mansour said his country was open to continuing negotiations.

"The draft in blue in not closing the door to the continuation of the negotiation with all of our partners," Mansour said. "We are willing to work with those who want to work with us in the Security Council in a positive and constructive way."

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki said that the resolution submitted by Jordan was a French-sponsored version of the draft, not the one originally phrased by the Palestinians and the Arab League.

The resolution sets a two-year deadline to reach a solution to the Palestinian issue, Al-Malki told Voice of Palestine Radio.

"France said it wants to go to the Security Council with us because the proposal will deal with all the problems that existed over the past 20 years of negotiations," al-Malki said. "It believes a ceiling to end negotiations and end the occupation is the best process now, because direct negotiations have proven to be futile."

Observers say the Security Council is unlikely to vote on the proposal as early as Wednesday, with a deferral expected until Thursday or next week.

Earlier on Wednesday, the European Parliament accepted, with a large majority, a decision expressing support "in principle" of the recognition of a Palestinian state, along with furthering negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

Some 498 parliamentarians voted in favor of the motion, 88 voted against it, and 111 abstained.

On Tuesday, the U.S. clarified that it would be willing to support a United Nations Security Council proposal on the Israeli-Palestinian issue, as long as it contains "no unilateral measures" that would predetermine the outcome of diplomatic negotiations.

State Department Spokesman Jen Psaki said that if the wording of the resolution included terms of reference for negotiations on the core issues, the United States [rest of text is missing from online edition of Haaretz]
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By SOMINI SENGUPTA for the New York Times

UNITED NATIONS — After a day of intense lobbying, the Palestinians persuaded their fellow Arab diplomats here to support a draft Security Council resolution that sets a one-year deadline for negotiations with Israel and is aimed at the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from the West Bank.

The draft measure was formally shared with the 15 members of the Security Council, with language that sets down targets for Palestinian sovereignty, including land swaps, a shared capital in Jerusalem and “full and phased withdrawal of Israeli forces” by the end of 2017.

Those strict deadlines are unlikely to muster the support the resolution needs to pass, and even the Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, stopped short of pressing for a swift vote. Indeed, he left open the possibility that the language could still be massaged to assuage the concerns of council members, not least the United States, which is Israel’s principal ally and wields veto power.

“We will continue negotiating with all of them, and the Americans if they are ready and willing, so that perhaps we can succeed in having something adopted by the Security Council,” he said at the end of two closed-door sessions with Arab diplomats here.

Document:
Text of the Draft Resolution

A draft Security Council resolution sets the one-year deadline for negotiations with Israel and is aimed at the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from the West Bank.
OPEN Document

The Americans did not immediately respond to the move. Secretary of State John Kerry was noncommittal in his comments on the resolution earlier this week, suggesting that his government favored “constructive conversation” and would prefer to refrain from taking any action that could interfere in the coming Israeli elections.

Mr. Kerry made those comments after meeting with Palestinian officials and his counterparts from France, Britain and Germany. The three European foreign ministers have been discussing another, softer draft resolution to set a timetable and targets for Israeli-Palestinian talks.

The United States has traditionally been reluctant to address the conflict in the Security Council, preferring direct talks instead.

The resolution lays out a 12-month deadline for “a just, lasting and comprehensive peaceful solution that brings an end to the Israeli occupation,” borders based on 1967 boundaries, recognition of the State of Palestine, and the withdrawal of Israeli security forces “over an agreed transition period in a reasonable time frame, not to exceed the end of 2017.”

Palestinian officials in Ramallah had announced their intention to go to the Security Council earlier in the week. The move seemed more aimed at sending a political message to Palestinians back home than spurring the Security Council into action. Jordan, which represents the Arab states on the Council and is the only country in a position to circulate a draft measure, apparently sought to persuade the Palestinians to negotiate further to reach a compromise text.

But the Palestinians finally convinced the other Arab diplomats. It was left to Mr. Mansour to emerge from a two-hour meeting with the diplomats — the second one of the day — and announce his victory, albeit modest. The draft measure would be put “in blue” later that evening, he said, which meant that the language would be shared publicly and that, in theory, it could be put up for a vote in 24 hours. A draft resolution could also, in theory, languish forever.

A version of this article appears in print on December 18, 2014, on page A9 of the New York edition with the headline: Palestinians Make Strides Toward Draft Resolution at U.N..