J’lem: US to veto UNSC resolution against peace plan
Netanyahu reportedly weighing narrow sovereignty vote
The United States is expected to veto a United Nations Security Council resolution against US President Donald Trump’s peace plan when it comes to a vote in the next few weeks, according to Israel’s mission to the UN in New York.
The Palestinians are working to bring a resolution to the 15-member security council that would condemn the peace plan, the mission said, adding that it expected a debate on the matter within the next 10 days.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will be in New York to attend that UNSC meeting, the mission said. Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon and US Ambassador to the UN Kelly Craft will also be at the meeting. The United States is one of five countries with veto power at the security council.
Danon is working with Craft to seek support for the plan at the UN and to prevent any protest actions by the PA.
“Abu Mazen [Abbas] has to learn that a speech in New York won’t resolve the conflict between Jerusalem and Ramallah,” Danon said. “We are working [to help] the international community recognize reality. Abu Mazen is the only rejectionist of peace around the council’s table and does not intend to advance any agreement.”
In Israel, both the Right and Left have galvanized against the plan. The right wing wanted a plan that includes all of Area C under sovereign Israel, not just half of it. They are also opposed to its acceptance of a Palestinian state, even a demilitarized one.
When the plan was first unveiled last Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would immediately bring the issue of Israeli sovereignty over 30% of the West Bank to a vote as early as this Sunday, as is allowed in the plan.
But he backtracked on that pledge after it turned out that Washington wanted him to wait at least until after the March 2 elections.
In an unusual development, no regular Sunday cabinet meeting has been scheduled.
There has been no public announcement of another meeting this week, although it is possible that a meeting could be held on Tuesday.
KAN news reported on Saturday night that Netanyahu may attempt to hold a sovereignty vote on a much more narrow portion of the West Bank. One option would be to just apply it to the settlements and not to the full 30% of the West Bank set out in the Trump plan.
The YESHA Council held an emergency meeting on the matter on Saturday night.
Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan said that, “the right wing expects the application of sovereignty already this week. Any delay is dangerous and could destroy the process, not just now but for generations.”
He added that it could also destroy the right wing’s chances for victory in the upcoming election.
In Tel Aviv, the left-wing NGO Peace Now held a march and a rally against the Trump plan. The left wing opposes the plan because it calls for redrawing the map of sovereign Israel in such a way that the Arab-Israeli communities in the Triangle area would be excluded from the State of Israel and included in a Palestinian state.
They are also against the plan because it allows for unilateral annexation and puts forward what they believe is a nonviable vision of a Palestinian state.
MK Tamar Zandberg (Meretz) said: “This isn’t a peace plan. It’s not even a plan,” but rather a recipe for annexation, transfer, violence and apartheid. True peace can only be achieved between the Israeli and Palestinian leadership and not between two leaders, one who is facing impeachment and the other who is facing criminal charges, Zandberg said.
MK Aida Touma-Sliman (Joint List) said, “When I saw Trump and Netanyahu present their plan in a room filled with the rich, filled with men, filled with settlers and almost no women and no Palestinians, a deep worry rose in my heart.
“I was concerned about the realization of their brutal plan. But when I see all of us here, I believe that together we can stop this plan. They have money, they have power, they have armies and all the instruments of control. But justice is on our side.”
Touma-Sliman added that, “we have hope for a better future.”
On Friday, Britain, one of the 15 UN Security Council members, spoke out against any Israeli attempts to unilaterally annex portions of the West Bank.
British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said that, “any such unilateral moves would be damaging to renewed efforts to restart peace negotiations and contrary to international law. Any changes to the status quo cannot be taken forward without an agreement negotiated by the parties themselves.”