Netanyahu to meet Kerry over UN West Bank withdrawal vote

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet with US Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday for an urgent consultation on Palestinian statehood efforts at the United Nations Security Council, senior Israeli officials said Wednesday.

The US State Department confirmed that Kerry would fly to Rome Monday to meet with Netanyahu.

“They will discuss a number of issues, including recent developments in Israel, the West Bank, and Jerusalem and the region,” the State Department said in a statement.

The two leaders will convene in order to discuss an expected UN Security Council vote which would effectively set a timetable for Israel’s withdrawal from the West Bank.

The Palestinian Authority has stated that it is determined to present the resolution to the UN by the end of 2014. The US, however, has reiterated its opposition to holding the vote, which it sees as unilateral Palestinian measures that bypass peace talks with Israel.

The resolution would call on Israel to completely withdraw from the West Bank by late 2016.

“We are at the (UN) Security Council now, today. We are continuing our consultation. We want a Security Council resolution that will preserve the two-state solution,” top Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Tuesday. “We want a specific time frame to end the occupation.”

His remarks came after several European parliaments pressed their governments to recognize full Palestinian statehood.

“We’re being helped a great deal in the Security Council by many nations,” he added, referring to recent votes of British, French and Spanish MPs in favor of recognizing Palestine as a state.

“We are hoping to achieve this resolution before the end of the month, before Christmas as a matter of fact.”

The Palestinians are still lobbying to get nine out of 15 security Council members to commit to voting in favor of the resolution, but say they will go ahead with the bid either way.

The US is widely expected to torpedo the resolution, though some officials say fraying ties between Jerusalem and Washington could make the US less likely to exercise its veto.

Last week, France, Germany and Britain reportedly began working on a draft resolution to be submitted to the UN Security Council, as a counter to the Palestinian draft. The resolution is set to outline the principles of a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians in the time frame of two years.

On Wednesday, following a Palestinian official’s death en route to a Ramallah hospital after he was struck in the chest by an IDF soldier, a top Fatah leader, Jibril Rajoub, told The Times of Israel that the PA will now immediately apply for membership in international organizations. He was referring to dozens of United Nations and other forums that the Palestinians have long threatened to seek to join in unilateral moves opposed by Israel.

On November 17, the European Union harshly condemned Israel for settlement expansion, threatening to “take further action” to respond to Israeli moves deemed harmful to the two-state solution, but refrained from announcing concrete sanctions.

At the same time, an internal EU document was revealed in Haaretz that showed preliminary sanctions the union is considering imposing on Israel, including recalling European ambassadors and cutting ties with Israeli leaders who publicly oppose the two-state solution.

Raphael Ahren and Adiv Sterman contributed to this report.