UN resolution to reject ME peace plan

Palestinian supporters have circulated a draft United Nations resolution that would reject the recently launched United States plan to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, saying it violates international law and Security Council demands for a two-state solution based on borders before the 1967 Mideast war.

The resolution, obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press, could be put to a vote on February 11 when Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to address the Security Council and deliver his government’s objections to the Israeli-backed US peace plan.

If a vote is held, the resolution is virtually certain to be vetoed by the United States.

The US plan, unveiled by President Donald Trump on January 28, envisions a disjointed Palestinian state that turns over key parts of the West Bank to Israel, siding with Israel on key contentious issues including borders and the status of Jerusalem and Jewish settlements.

The Palestinians seek all of the West Bank and east Jerusalem — areas captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war — for an independent state and the removal of many of the more than 700,000 Israeli settlers from these areas.

But under terms of the “peace vision” that Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner worked on for nearly three years, all Israeli settlers would remain in place, and Israel would retain sovereignty over all of its settlements as well as the strategic Jordan Valley.

Kushner is expected to present the plan to Security Council members at a private lunch Thursday hosted by the US Mission to the United Nations.