US Secretary of State Kerry to meet Palestinian negotiator in London talks
17 Dec 2014 12:37 AM GMT
Kerry will seek to persuade the Palestinians not to rush ahead with a draft UN resolution seeking to set a two-year timetable for an end to the Israeli occupation.
He has spent the past two days in Europe meeting his counterparts as well as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to gauge support for the Palestinian effort at the UN Security Council. He will also meet Tuesday with the secretary general of the Arab League, Nabil al-Arabi, seeking to keep key Arab allies on board with the US diplomacy, plus Quartet representative Tony Blair.More violence in the West Bank overnight, when a Palestinian was killed during an Israeli military operation in the Qalandiya refugee camp, highlighted the tensions.
A UN resolution is the “only option left to the Palestinian leadership,” said Abdel Majid Sweilem, a Palestinian political analyst.
George Jiacaman of Birzeit University in the West Bank said going to the UN was “an alternative to measures the Palestinian street is demanding, such as halting security coordination with Israel”.Netanyahu warned late Monday after meeting Kerry for almost three hours in Rome that European backing for the Palestinians could harm his country.
“Attempts of the Palestinians and of several European countries to force conditions on Israel will only lead to a deterioration in the regional situation and will endanger Israel,” he said in a statement.
“Therefore, we will strongly oppose this.”The Palestinians have said they will submit an Arab-backed draft text to the UN as early as Wednesday.
He has spent the past two days in Europe meeting his counterparts as well as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to gauge support for the Palestinian effort at the UN Security Council. He will also meet Tuesday with the secretary general of the Arab League, Nabil al-Arabi, seeking to keep key Arab allies on board with the US diplomacy, plus Quartet representative Tony Blair.More violence in the West Bank overnight, when a Palestinian was killed during an Israeli military operation in the Qalandiya refugee camp, highlighted the tensions.
A UN resolution is the “only option left to the Palestinian leadership,” said Abdel Majid Sweilem, a Palestinian political analyst.
George Jiacaman of Birzeit University in the West Bank said going to the UN was “an alternative to measures the Palestinian street is demanding, such as halting security coordination with Israel”.Netanyahu warned late Monday after meeting Kerry for almost three hours in Rome that European backing for the Palestinians could harm his country.
“Attempts of the Palestinians and of several European countries to force conditions on Israel will only lead to a deterioration in the regional situation and will endanger Israel,” he said in a statement.
“Therefore, we will strongly oppose this.”The Palestinians have said they will submit an Arab-backed draft text to the UN as early as Wednesday.
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