Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Benjamin Netanyahu Slams U.N. Plans To ‘Dictate’ on Palestinian Statehood

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said before talks on Monday with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry he would defy any U.N. move to “dictate” a timeframe for withdrawal from land Palestinians seek for a state.

Before the two convened in Rome, Israel put the United States on notice it expected Washington to exercise its Security Council veto against any resolutions setting a timeframe.

Jordan has circulated a draft Palestinian resolution to the 15-member forum calling for Israeli occupation of Palestinian land to end by November 2016.

U.S. officials have indicated that Washington did not find the Palestinian draft acceptable, but said that with matters still fluid, it was premature to take a position now on any particular Security Council resolution.

“Whether we have the nine votes at the Security Council or we don’t, the decision has been taken to present the Palestinian-Arab resolution in the Security Council on Wednesday,” said Wasel Abu Youssef, an official of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the Palestinians’ highest decision-making body, led by President Mahmoud Abbas.

Shortly before leaving for Rome, in the middle of a re-election campaign, Netanyahu said:

“We will not accept attempts to dictate unilateral, time-bound moves to us,” he told reporters. “I will say these things in the clearest manner. Even if there are dictates, we will stand up to them firmly.”

Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz said Israel expected Washington to use its Security Council veto, if necessary, as it has done in the past in support of its ally.

France is also leading a bid among Europeans to draft a resolution with a less definitive timetable before Israel’s March 17 election. A Western diplomat said the Europeans felt the United States was now open to that possibility.

Israeli-Palestinian peace talks championed by Kerry, who had set a nine-month target date for their success, collapsed in April. A Gaza war last summer, heightened violence in recent weeks in Israel and the West Bank and the Israeli election campaign have all dampened prospects of resuming talks soon.

Kerry planned to travel later on Monday for talks with counterparts from France, Britain and Germany, and he will meet Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat in London on Tuesday.

While saying he would support Palestinian statehood under an eventual peace deal, Netanyahu has balked at comprehensive withdrawals from the West Bank, which many Israelis consider a security bulwark and Jewish biblical birthright.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.