Palestine may submit UN draft Monday: Erekat

A chief Palestinian negotiator says Palestinians may submit a draft resolution to the United Nations Security Council on Monday to put pressure on Israel to end its occupation.

The resolution will be handed over “in the coming few hours, or maybe on Monday,” Saeb Erekat said on Sunday.

In the past few months, the Palestinian national unity government has been pushing for a UN resolution that determines the borders of the future Palestinian state based on the pre-1967 lines. Israel has expressed outcry over the motion.

“We want a clear and specific resolution for a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with Jerusalem as its capital, resolving all the final status issues, releasing all detainees and refugees and labeling settlement activity illegal and should be stopped immediately, including in Jerusalem,” Erekat added.

The draft resolution, approved by the Arab League in September, sets 2016 as the date for a full Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian territories.

The text is also expected to lay out a timeframe for negotiations on a final peace deal between Israelis and Palestinians.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says there will be no negotiations over land with Israel as Palestinians will not give up even an inch of their land.

In 1967, Israel occupied the West Bank, East Jerusalem al-Quds, and the Gaza Strip but withdrew from the enclave in 2005.

Palestinians are seeking to create an independent state on the territories of the West Bank, East Jerusalem al-Quds and the Gaza Strip.

Tel Aviv, however, has refused to return to the 1967 borders and is unwilling to discuss the issue of East Jerusalem al-Quds.