More details emerge on Abbas’s UN bid

As part of PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s rumored international bid, the Arab League is set to submit a UN petition for recognition of a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders which would call for “a swift end to the occupation,” Army Radio reports.

According to the report, this move would come in addition to Abbas’s demand for an internationally imposed deadline on Israel to evacuate the West Bank, which if rejected would see the PA leader filing war crimes charges against Israel at the International Criminal Court.

Should Abbas turn to the Security Council, he would likely be vetoed by the US, it reports, but if presented to the general assembly, the proposal would likely be met with a supportive majority.

For Israel, this is seen as a “toothless” move, it writes, but one that will most likely be “unpleasant.”

Officials in Israel criticize the PA leader’s poor timing for the move, arguing that the Cairo negotiations for a Gaza truce have presented themselves as a way to possibly restore the peace talks.

“We have a positive opportunity to return to the [peace] negotiations, and therefore this is the least appropriate time for the PA to turn to unilateral measures,” an official says.

However, Abbas is said to have noted in private that “he will achieve through the UN everything Netanyahu wouldn’t give in the negotiations with Kerry.”

Abbas is expected to present the plan to the Palestinian leadership on Tuesday, make a public address, and later meet with US Secretary of State John Kerry on the subject, it reports.