Diplomatic Sources: Arab pressure forced Jordan to file Palestinian UNSC resolution

Sources say Jordan's Dina Kawar had to "practically be shoved out the door" in order to file the Palestinian draft.

By MAYA SHWAYDER
A United Nations Security Council meeting at UN headquarters in New York. (photo credit: REUTERS)
A United Nations Security Council meeting at UN headquarters in New York.
(photo credit: REUTERS)
NEW YORK — The UN's Arab Group pressured Jordanian ambassador Dina Kawar to file the Palestinian resolution for Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank to the UN Security Council, diplomatic sources reported on Thursday.
The sources said that Kawar was extremely reluctant to submit the draft on Wednesday and had to "practically be shoved out the door" in order to do so. She reportedly did not even want to speak to the press.
Jordan is trying to act as cautiously as it can as it faces US disapproval and Arab pressure. The country itself is a tinder box right now, with its Palestinian population agitated due to events in Jerusalem and the further deterioration of the situation in Syria.
On Wednesday night, Jordan, on behalf of the UN’s Arab Group and the Palestinians, formally submitted a draft resolution to the Security Council that calls for a one-year timetable for a negotiated two-state solution, based on the pre-1967 lines, “with mutually agreed, limited, equivalent land swaps.”
Once negotiations are concluded, Israel would have to withdraw from the West Bank within two years, by the end of 2017, according to the draft resolution. It demands a “full and phased withdrawal” of IDF forces by that date, with arrangements for border security as well as the possibility of a third-party presence.
According to the draft resolution, Jerusalem would be the capital of both states, and there would be a “just and agreed” solution to the issue of Palestinian refugees on the basis of the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative.
The Palestinian resolution makes no mention of a Jewish state
It does speak of Gaza as an integral part of the Palestinian state and calls for the expansion of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency and other UN organizations in Gaza to “redress the unsustainable situation.”
France plans to move forward with its own separate resolution, together with Britain and Germany.
The US on Thursday said it plans to veto a Palestinian UN Security Council resolution setting a three-year timetable for Israel and its security forces to withdraw from the West Bank.
“We have seen the draft. It is not something we would support,” US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters.
“We think others feel the same and are calling for further consultations. The Palestinians understand that. You may have also seen [Palestinian Authority] President [Mahmoud] Abbas speak to this earlier today.... They support continued consultations and they are not pushing for a vote on this now.”
Tovah Lazaroff, Khaled Abu Toameh and Herb Keinon contributed to this report.