Palestinians to appeal to U.N. with anti-settlement resolution

The carefully worded resolution declares Jewish settlement in the West Bank a major obstacle to ending the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. It is meant to increase pressure on Israel and the U.S
Reporting from Jerusalem and Ramallah, West Bank — Frustrated by the collapse of U.S.-sponsored peace talks, Palestinians are preparing to take their case to the U.N. Security Council in the coming days with a resolution declaring ongoing Jewish settlement in the West Bank a major obstacle to ending the conflict.

The carefully worded resolution stops short of calling for sanctions against Israel or seeking recognition for Palestinian statehood. But it is designed to increase pressure on both Israel and the United States, Palestinian officials said.

The U.S. frequently has supported Israel by vetoing such moves in the U.N. But Palestinian officials say the proposed resolution largely mirrors views expressed by the Obama administration in recent months. SOURCE

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"It's a very moderate resolution, by design, because we don't want the U.N. to veto it,'' Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said Sunday. "We want the international community to tell Israel that the settlements are against international law."

If the U.S. were to veto a resolution that reflects what "Obama said in his speech in Cairo" and what U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has said, "then that's a story," Erekat said.

State Department officials are waiting to see the language of the resolution, but they said they would prefer to resume peace talks, rather than see diplomatic moves in the U.N.

Israeli officials accused Palestinians of evading the peace process. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that he was prepared to sit down with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas "until white smoke wafts," referring to the Vatican signal for selection of a new pope.

Negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, which had been suspended for almost two years, resumed Sept. 2. But they broke down less than a month later after a 10-month partial freeze on Israeli settlement construction expired.

Palestinians said they would not return to the negotiating table until settlement activities stopped.

The U.S. also opposes settlement construction, but last month the Obama administration decided to back away from efforts to persuade Israel to stop building and to look for another way to propel the process.

Though a U.N. resolution against settlements would not be new, analysts see the Palestinian campaign as the beginning of a new strategy to muster international support and apply pressure on Israel.

Ali Hussein, editor in chief of the Palestinian news agency Wafa, said the draft resolution was "a first step on a long road of resolutions until we get to the final resolution that says the occupation should end."

Palestinians are hoping to persuade the international community to offer its own peace plan, which would include recognition of a Palestinian state, and pressure Israel to accept it.

In a televised speech over the weekend, Abbas called upon the Mideast Quartet , which includes the U.S., the European Union, Russia and the United Nations, to draft a peace plan based on previous U.N. Security Council resolutions.

Separately Sunday, the Israeli military said it would investigate the deaths of two Palestinians over the weekend in clashes with Israeli forces.

On Saturday, Jawaher Abu Rahmeh, 36, died after inhaling tear gas at a demonstration against Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin. Since tear gas is typically non-lethal, it remained unclear whether soldiers used excessive amounts or if the woman had health problems that contributed to her reaction.

The woman's brother, Bassam Abu Rahmah, was killed during a similar protest in 2009 when he was struck at close range by a tear-gas canister.

The military also is investigating the shooting death Sunday of a Palestinian man who was approaching an army checkpoint near the city of Nablus. Military officials say the man was brandishing a broken glass bottle, but Palestinian witnesses said the man, Ahmed Muslamani, 24, was unarmed, carrying only a soft-drink bottle.

edmund.sanders@latimes.com

Abukhater is a special correspondent.