United Nations’ Security Council (UNSC) will be convening, on Wednesday, in New York City, for a discussion on the planned Israeli annexation of large parts of the West Bank, expected by early next month.
Deputy-spokesperson for the United Nations’ (UN) Secretary General, Farhan Haq, said in a press briefing that UN Secretary General, António Guterres, along with the UN envoy for Middle East Peace, Nickolay Mladenov, will be briefing member states of the UNSC on the planned Israeli annexation.
Meanwhile, Riyad Mansour, representative of Palestine at the UN, was quoted as saying that Palestine will present a paper, explaining the expected Israeli move in terms of international law and the potential affect on the chances of peace in the region.
In terms of UN resolutions, pertaining to Palestine-Israel, Mansour said that resolution number 2334, which demands Israel to reverse its current policy of colonial settlements, will be focused on, during today’s discussions, as the move itself would likely make a long-envisioned two-state solution, far from attainable.
The Palestinian representative also emphasized the point that Palestine will continue its endeavor at various levels to mobilize all concerned parties against the Israeli annexation plans for the West Bank.
A couple of months ago, Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, announced that his government would embark on the annexation of 30 percent of Palestinian-owned lands in Al-Aghwar of the Jordan Valley, north of the West Bank, by early July.
In response to Netanyahu’s declaration, the Palestinian leadership, including Palestinian Authority and President Mahmoud Abbas, announced that the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which signed the Oslo Declaration of Principles with Israel, back in 1993, announced that the PLO is no longer committed to those accords.
Early this week, Nickolay Mladenov, along with a number of EU, Arab, as well as other international representatives to the Palestinian Authority, took part in a sit-in in the threatened fertile Alaghwar area, in protest of the Israeli annexation plans.
