Palestinians soften peace plan response

A reworked Palestinian resolution has dropped its initial condemnation of Donald Trump’s Middle East peace plan.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Picture: AP

reworked Palestinian resolution has dropped its initial condemnation of Donald Trump’s Middle East peace plan, opting for less confrontational language ahead of a UN Security Council vote.

The latest draft no longer mentions the US by name as the plan’s author, and couches its criticism in milder language than in the original.

The changes come as diplomatic pressure mounts ahead of Tuesday’s Security Council vote (Wednesday AEDT), with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas expected to be on hand.

In one sign of the pressure, ­Tunisia has sacked its ambassador to the UN, Moncef Baati, citing his failure to consult with his foreign ministry on matters said to include the peace plan. Diplomatic sources said Tunisian President Kais Saied was worried Mr Baati’s expressions of support for the Palestinians would damage Tunis’s relations with the US.

The US ambassador to ­Israel has cautioned Israel against “unilateral action” in annexing West Bank settlements, warning that such a move could endanger the peace plan.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had initially sought to move quickly to annex large swaths of the West Bank containing Jewish settlements, following the US plan’s announcement on January 28.

Mr Netanyahu called for his cabinet to vote on such a measure, only to call it off a day later.

The move would have risked provoking a harsh backlash from the Palestinians and the inter­national community.

The plan, orchestrated by Mr Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner, would put the Palestinian capital in a suburb of Jerusalem rather than East Jerusalem, and allow Israel to annex more than 130 Jewish settlements in the occupied territories as well as the Jordan Valley.

It has been roundly rejected by the Palestinians, the Arab League and the Islamic Co-operation ­Organisation. On Sunday, the ­African Union followed suit, with chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat telling a summit of African leaders in Addis Ababa that it ­“trampled on the rights of the ­Palestinian people”.

The initial draft of the Palestinian resolution, which was presented by Tunisia and Indonesia last Tuesday, charged that the US plan “breaches international law and the internationally endorsed terms of reference for the achievement of a just, comprehensive and lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict”.

The latest version says the US initiative “departs from the internationally endorsed terms of reference and parameters for the achievement of a just, comprehensive and lasting solution to this conflict, as enshrined in the relevant UN resolutions”.

Despite the softer tone, however, it was unclear whether the latest version would be enough to avoid a US veto when it comes to a vote in the Security Council on Tuesday.

AFP, AP