Ambassador: Arab draft of UNSC resolution on Palestine not to be put to vote on Dec 17
MOSCOW. Dec 16 (Interfax) - A draft resolution of the UN Security Council regarding the Palestinian state formation timeframe, which has been elaborated by Arab countries, will not be put to vote on December 17, Palestinian Ambassador in Moscow Fayed Mustafa said.
"The draft of our resolution is in the process of discussion. I can tell you that a meeting between the delegation of the State of Palestine led by Saeb Erekat [the chief Palestinian negotiator with Israel] and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will be held in London tonight. There will also be a meeting between Kerry and a delegation of Arab countries led by Nabil Elaraby, Secretary General of the League of Arab States, today to discuss our draft resolution of the UN Security Council," he told Interfax.
"The LAS delegation will fly to Paris tomorrow to meet with [French Foreign Minister] Laurent Fabius and to raise this question," the ambassador said.
"As the discussions will not end either today or tomorrow, there will be no vote at the UN Security Council tomorrow," Mustafa said.
Speaking of when the Arab draft resolution may be put to vote in this case, the ambassador said "that would be clear at the end of today's and tomorrow's meetings in London and Paris."
He also said that Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Department of the Middle East and North Africa Sergei Vershinin would soon visit Ramallah to meet with the Palestinian administration.
Earlier reports said the Arab draft resolution on Palestine would be presented to the UN Security Council on December 17. Reportedly, the document will be submitted by Jordan, a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council. The draft resolution sets November 2016 as a deadline for the Israeli pullout from Palestinian lands.
