Hamas on Sunday issued a statement urging Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to withdraw the statehood bid resolution he tendered to the UN Security Council, thus acknowledging the failure of the peace process with Israel. The statement was preceded by a number of harsh rhetoric by Israeli officials on Sunday. Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz said that in the event the UN votes in favor of the bid, Israel would consider retaliating severely, including moving to dismantle the Palestinian Authority. We are awaiting a UN vote on an aggressive, hostile, unilateral decision regarding a Palestinian state, that would include an Israeli retreat from Judea and Samaria, the official said during a weekly meeting of the government cabinet. We cannot let it slide. In my opinion, should the Security Council ratify such decision, well have to seriously consider the dissolution of the Palestinian Authority. Also on Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the UN of attempting to unilaterally pass a resolution recognizing a Palestinian state which, he said, would then lead to the establishment of a second Hamastan and would endanger our security. This is the same UN Human Rights Council that passed dozens of decisions this year against Israel, [and only] one decision on Iran and one decision on Syria, he added. The PM said he would rebuff any attempts to impose conditions on Israel. Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said on Friday that the new Palestinian-proposed Security Council resolution regarding an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank will be brought to a vote before the UN no later than Monday of next week. The resolution, which was submitted to the UN Security Council by Jordan earlier this month, calls for an Israeli withdrawal from the territories the Palestinians claim for a future state by 2017 and sets a two-year deadline to reach a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The initial draft has been amended, but the final version has yet to be made public, Israel Radio said. The Haaretz paper reported earlier this week that the Palestinian delegation to the UN had revised the draft, with the new version defining east Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state. According to the revision the Palestinians also demand full sovereignty over all areas captured by Israel after June 4, 1967, they dont recognize any demographic and geographic changes made by Israel, and stress that all settlements violate international law.
Posted on: Sun, 28 Dec 2014 23:30:27 +0000
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