A senior Palestinian official said Monday that the Palestinian Authority has mustered the support of seven of nine UN Security Council members needed to bring to a vote its resolution that would force an Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 lines by November 2016.
Speaking in an interview with the Bethlehem-based Ma'an News Agency, Sha'ath said, "We are at the stage of lobbying within the Security Council to get nine or more votes."
Sha'ath said that the PA was facing opposition to the move from the US, who was not only threatening to veto the resolution should it be brought to a vote, but also was urging other Security Council members to oppose the resolution and push back a vote on the measure until after US midterm elections in November.
Abbas announced on October 1 that he had submitted the draft resolution to the Security Council. "We have submitted a draft resolution to the Security Council who started consultations a few days ago and will continue for three weeks, perhaps longer, until we receive an answer," Abbas told a PLO meeting in Ramallah.
The resolution calls for "the full withdrawal of Israel ... from all of the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, as rapidly as possible and to be fully completed within a specified timeframe, not to exceed November 2016."
US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power told reporters earlier this month, "We are aware of President Abbas' plan and we continue to believe, to strongly believe, that the only way to a negotiated solution is through negotiations between the two parties."
The PA has said that should the resolution fail to pass in the Security Council, they would seek to join the International Criminal Court at the Hague and pursue war crimes charges against Israel.