RAMALLAH
Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki said Monday that the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution that his government seeks – which would set a deadline for ending Israel's decades-long occupation of Palestinian land – will be put to a vote as soon as permanent council members return from Iran nuclear talks currently underway in Vienna.
"The draft resolution will be proposed on November 28 or December 2 at the latest," al-Maliki said on Palestinian radio.
Al-Maliki added that the Palestinian leadership was "determined to put the resolution to a vote, regardless of whether it could secure nine votes on not."
For the draft resolution to pass, nine council members must endorse it – provided it is not vetoed by a permanent member.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has set the end of November as the submission date for the draft resolution, which calls for setting a November 2016 deadline for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from all Palestinian territory occupied in 1967.
In Austrian capital Vienna, the tenth round of negotiations over Tehran's nuclear program – held between Iran and the so-called P5+1 countries – was extended to Monday following a six-day session.
Palestinian-Israeli peace talks ground to a halt in April after Israel failed to honor earlier promises to release a group of Palestinian prisoners.
According to recent statements by Abbas, the Palestinian draft resolution will seek to apply the "two-state solution," providing the Palestinians with an independent state within pre-1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.
englishnews@aa.com.tr
www.aa.com.tr/en
