TEL AVIV (JTA) — The Palestinian Authority does not have the majority needed to approve a U.N. Security Council resolution setting a deadline for Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank, a senior Palestinian official said.
Saeb Erekat told a Nazareth-based radio station Monday that Palestinians have yet to secure the necessary nine votes from the 15-member council, according to Haaretz.
The proposal, which calls for Israel to withdraw from the West Bank within two years, is set to come before the Security Council on Wednesday.
Majority approval could force a U.S. veto, though the United States has yet to say whether it will use its veto.
Several European nations are formulating an alternate proposal calling for the establishment of a Palestinian state through negotiations within two years.
According to the Times of Israel, the European resolution may include reference to Israel’s Jewish character. Such recognition was a sticking point during this year’s failed Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted that the Palestinian Authority recognize Israel as a Jewish state, but Palestinian negotiators strongly opposed the provision.
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