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Trump Peace Plan Faces Rebuke in Draft UN Resolution

Trump Peace Plan Faces Rebuke in Draft UN Resolution

(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace plan is facing a backlash at the United Nations, as Security Council members negotiate a resolution that pushes back against the U.S. proposal announced at the White House last week.

Tunisia, which represents Arab countries on the 15-member Security Council, and Indonesia circulated a draft resolution on Tuesday that “strongly regrets” that the U.S. proposal “breaches international law,” according to a copy of the text seen by Bloomberg News. The resolution stresses the “illegality of the annexation of any part of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem.”

Trump’s proposal, announced as he stood alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, would recognize Israel’s sovereignty over all Jewish settlements and the Jordan Valley. Netanyahu, who is under indictment and lagging in the polls after failing twice to form a government last year, initially interpreted the plan as a green light to immediately begin annexing those territories, though he has since backpedaled.

Council diplomats were set to begin negotiations on the resolution Wednesday although any text will likely face a U.S. veto. To pass, a resolution needs nine votes in support and no vetoes by the five permanent members, which include the U.K., France, Russia, the U.S. and China. A vetoed resolution would then likely go to the UN General Assembly, which is made up of all UN members. There its odds of being approved are much higher but passage would largely be symbolic.

Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser who led the drafting of the plan, is expected to brief Security Council members on Thursday, while Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is slated to speak to the council next week.

To contact the reporter on this story: David Wainer in New York at dwainer3@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Bill Faries at wfaries@bloomberg.net, Sara Forden

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