(AFP/File Emmanuel Dunand)
The final resolution for Palestinian statehood bid was set to be presented before the UN Security Council Monday, with Palestinian political organisations still divided over the matter.
Hamas described the bid as “catastrophic”, noting that if implemented, there will “be no future for the land of Palestine”, in an official statement by the Qassam Brigades, the organisation’s military wing.
Meanwhile, Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas received a phone call from US Secretary of State John Kerry Sunday, and stressed Palestinian and Arab support for the bid. He rejected all forms of settlement activity, especially in East Jerusalem, according to a Monday statement by the Palestinian Embassy.
The bid aims to win the support of the Security Council member states to end the occupation of the Palestinian territories by 2017 and recognise Palestine as a state, with its capital in East Jerusalem. The first draft of the Palestinian statehood bid was presented to the Security Council on 17 December.
The bid circulated by Jordan, currently a non-permanent member the Security Council, is backed by Arab nations and several EU parliaments. It has so far acquired recognition from France, Spain, Britain, Sweden, and Ireland.
Senior Hamas Official Mahmoud Al-Zahar told Daily News Egypt that Hamas and other Palestinian factions, including the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, do not accept the resolution pushed by Abbas. He said that this was due to its focus on the pre-1967 borders.
He noted that the future lies in “resistance” until the entire land is retrieved, it is either “all or nothing”.
Al-Zahar also argued the bid would create a problem for Palestinians living abroad, depriving them of their “right to return to their homeland”.
Al-Zahar further noted that the Fatah movement and the Palestinian Authority, led by Abbas, are following a negotiations policy with the Israelis, unlike Hamas which follows “a resistance policy”.
According to Al-Zahar, Israel is against the bid presented to the Security Council, as Fatah is “weak” and accordingly offers compromises, and Israel sees that it will gain more through the potential compromises, without having to commit to a bid.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the start of a cabinet meeting Sunday, in reference to the Palestinian bid: “We will continue to rebuff vigorously attempts to force terms that would endanger our security and our future.”
Netanyahu also assured US Senator Lindsey Graham during a press conference Saturday that “the Palestinian Authority is going to try to bring to the Security Council a resolution that seeks to impose on us conditions that will undermine our security”. He added that “we will stand firmly and reject such a dictate”.
