 The Palestinian flag flies from the building housing the General Delegation of the Palestine Liberation Organization in Washington on Tuesday for the first time. AFP photo |
A U.N. resolution condemning Israeli settlement building is to be put to a vote in February, with support from Russia and France, a Palestinian official said on Wednesday.
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said the U.N. Security Council would vote on the resolution after a meeting of the Middle East Quartet, the international grouping that supports Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.
The quartet's members, Russia, the United States, the European Union and the United Nations, are to meet on Feb. 5 in the German city of Munich.
Erakat said Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who visited the West Bank for the first time on Tuesday, "informed us that Russia would vote for the resolution."
Medvedev also reiterated Russia’s 1988 recognition of the Palestinian state, saying that Russia “supports the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to an independent state with its capital in East Jerusalem,” at a press conference on Tuesday. Medvedev did not make an official visit to Israel, but was in Jordan on Wednesday for bilateral meetings.
France, which like Russia is also a veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council, told Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas it planned to support the resolution, Erakat told AFP.
But the position of the United States, which has often vetoed U.N. resolutions directed at Israel, remains unclear, he said.
Erakat said the resolution would be presented to the Security Council "in the coming days."
The Palestinians, with Arab League support, are seeking a resolution condemning Israel's continued settlement construction, after the United States acknowledged it had failed to win a new freeze on the building.
A 10-month Israeli moratorium on settlement construction on the occupied West Bank ended in late September, torpedoing direct talks that had begun only three weeks earlier.
The Palestinians have said they will not resume negotiations while Israel is building on land they want for their future state.
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said the U.N. Security Council would vote on the resolution after a meeting of the Middle East Quartet, the international grouping that supports Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.
The quartet's members, Russia, the United States, the European Union and the United Nations, are to meet on Feb. 5 in the German city of Munich.
Erakat said Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who visited the West Bank for the first time on Tuesday, "informed us that Russia would vote for the resolution."
Medvedev also reiterated Russia’s 1988 recognition of the Palestinian state, saying that Russia “supports the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to an independent state with its capital in East Jerusalem,” at a press conference on Tuesday. Medvedev did not make an official visit to Israel, but was in Jordan on Wednesday for bilateral meetings.
France, which like Russia is also a veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council, told Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas it planned to support the resolution, Erakat told AFP.
But the position of the United States, which has often vetoed U.N. resolutions directed at Israel, remains unclear, he said.
Erakat said the resolution would be presented to the Security Council "in the coming days."
The Palestinians, with Arab League support, are seeking a resolution condemning Israel's continued settlement construction, after the United States acknowledged it had failed to win a new freeze on the building.
A 10-month Israeli moratorium on settlement construction on the occupied West Bank ended in late September, torpedoing direct talks that had begun only three weeks earlier.
The Palestinians have said they will not resume negotiations while Israel is building on land they want for their future state.
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