The UN Security Council could receive a Palestinian draft resolution calling for an end to the Israeli occupation by the end of the month, Agence France-Presse reported Thursday.
The news agency quotes Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) secretary general Yasser Abed Rabbo as saying that the decision to move forward with the resolution, which calls for "the full withdrawal of Israel ... from all of the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, as rapidly as possible and to be fully completed within a specified timeframe, not to exceed November 2016," was made Wednesday night.
According to reporting by the Associated Press, PLO officials said Thursday that the resolution currently has 7 supporters on the 15-member Council—Russia, China, Jordan, Chad, Chile, Nigeria and Argentina—and that it was seeking additional support from France and Luxembourg.
Noted intellectual Noam Chomsky told press earlier this week that "the Security Council can only act in so far as the great powers permit, and in this case that means in so far as the United States permits, and my suspicion is that the U.S. delegation will seek ways to block any such resolution."
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said last month that if that happened, he would seek to join the International Criminal Court.
Despite U.S. lobbying against the move, Palestine gained observer-state status at the United Nations in 2012, allowing it access to the ICC and other UN bodies.
