Deleting a condemnation of the peace plan at the Security Council and Netanyahu prepares maps for annexing parts of the West Bank

The first version of a draft resolution submitted by Tunisia and Indonesia in the Security Council on the US peace plan was amended by deleting a reference to condemning the plan, while the outgoing Israeli Prime Minister announced the preparation of maps annexing parts of the West Bank in coordination with the American administration.

The draft resolution submitted by Tunisia and Indonesia, two non-permanent members of the Security Council, considers that "the initiative put forward by the United States deviates from the internationally agreed standards for a permanent solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which are stipulated in the relevant United Nations resolutions."

The amendments included withdrawing the draft from the responsibility of Chapter Seven of the United Nations Charter, as well as the language used to describe the American plan - presented by US President Donald Trump on January 28, 2020 - after the original draft resolution considered it a violation of international law and undermining the right of the Palestinian people to report Destiny.

The project was limited to considering that the American initiative does not comply with international specializations and standards to achieve a just, comprehensive and lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

It also deleted part of a paragraph condemning calls to annex areas of the occupied Palestinian territories to Israel, and stressed the illegitimacy of annexing any part of it, including East Jerusalem.

It also omitted from the revised text the call for an international conference on the Middle East "at an early date", and the new version of the draft resolution merely recalled that this was stipulated in a resolution issued by the United Nations in 2008.

The first version of the draft resolution included the Security Council expressing its "deep regret", because the US peace plan "violates international law."

According to diplomatic sources, reducing the strength of the draft resolution is aimed at increasing the chances of him obtaining 14 votes in favor.

The original draft resolution was followed by the exemption of the Tunisian Foreign Ministry, the Tunisian permanent representative to the United Nations, who was fair to me, for considerations that it was professional.

The draft resolution is scheduled to be put to the vote tomorrow Tuesday, knowing that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will address the members of the Council, and after the session a press conference will be held in New York with former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, according to a statement of the Palestinian mission to the United Nations.

The Palestinians, the Arab League, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation rejected the American peace plan announced by Trump, which stipulates recognition of Jerusalem as the unified capital of Israel, provided that the capital of the future state of Palestine be established in the town of Abu Dis located to the east of Jerusalem, and the plan also includes annexing Israel into the Jordan Valley and more than 130 settlements located in the occupied West Bank.

Preparation of maps
For his part, Netanyahu confirmed during an election speech to his supporters in the Likud party in the settlement of Maale Adumim that he is about to map the lands that will be - according to the terms of the Trump peace plan - part of the State of Israel, as he put it.

He added that the region would include all Israeli settlements and the Jordan Valley, a region that Israel has kept under occupation since its control in the 1967 war, but that the Palestinians are demanding as part of their future state.

The Palestinian presidency has responded to Netanyahu's statements by its spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeina, who said that "the map that we know is the map of the state of Palestine on the borders of June 4, 1967 with East Jerusalem as its capital, and we will not deal with other maps."

He added that "the map of the state of Palestine is the map that is recognized by the world according to the United Nations resolutions, and it is the only one that achieves security, peace and stability in the region and the world, and any other maps that mean the occupation continues and cannot be accepted."