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Palestinians to submit draft resolution against Israeli settlements to UNSC: official

Xinhua, November 28, 2016 Adjust font size:

A draft resolution against Israeli settlements will be submitted to the UN Security Council (UNSC) within days, the Palestinian foreign minister said on Monday.

Riad Malki told the official Voice of Palestine that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas ordered the submission of the draft resolution to the UNSC before the end of the year.

All parties concerned will be informed, in particular the Arab Quartet, which consists of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain, as well as the Non-aligned Movement, he added.

The resolution needs nine votes in favor to be passed, provided that non of the permanent member states opposes.

The issue of settlements is a thorny issue in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and a reason for the freezing of the peace talks between the two sides.

Malki also condemned statements by Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman in which he called expanding settlements in the West Bank in the wake of the recent fires in Israel for which he blamed the Palestinians.

Israel will seek pretexts to build more settlements, he said, calling on the international community to undertake its responsibilities toward this issue.

The Israeli Public Radio reported that Lieberman toured Halmish settlement in the West Bank and said that 17 of the total fires ignited in Israel were intentionally initiated and that the reaction should be the expansion of the settlement construction in the West Bank.

Regrading a French initiative to hold a peace conference, the top Palestinian diplomat said that French peace envoy Pierre Vimont is on a tour to several Arab states to brief them on the efforts to hold the international conference.

He highlighted that the Palestinians are holding contacts with the French side and are being briefed on the outcome of Vimont's tour.

He mentioned that it is not clear if the U.S. will participate in the conference that is expected to be held at the level of foreign ministers in Paris next month.

Paris hosted an international ministerial meeting on June 3, which was attended by the foreign ministers of 25 countries, including four Arab states. It debated the revival of the stalled peace process between Israel and the Palestinians.

The peace talks between Israel and Palestine have been stalled since April 2014. The U.S-sponsored talks that lasted for nine months achieved no tangible results. Endit