Jordan hopes for Israeli-Palestinian UN resolution

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Jordan's U.N. envoy said Tuesday she will be trying to get the U.N. Security Council to agree on a resolution before Christmas that would press for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Ambassador Dina Kawar, the Arab representative on the 15-member council, told a group of reporters that there are Palestinian and French drafts, and there may be others.

The Palestinians circulated a draft on Oct. 1 asking the council to set a deadline of November 2016 for an Israeli withdrawal from all Palestinian territory occupied since 1967. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said last Friday that France is working for a U.N. resolution aimed at restarting Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations — and setting a two-year deadline for success.

Kawar said Jordan will be working to get a text acceptable to all council members.

"We will be sitting together and seeing ... the possibilities of working with everybody to get as close as possible to a unified text that will be for the interests of everybody," Kawar said. "We're going to try to make it before Christmas. If not, it will be in January. We really want to get everybody on board and that's our intention."

Support from the United States, Israel's closest ally and a veto-wielding member of the Security Council, is crucial for approval of a new resolution. The Obama administration has made clear its opposition to a deadline for the end to Israel's occupation, insisting that the only way to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is through negotiations.

Diplomats said the Obama administration has been working on elements for a possible resolution, but Washington hasn't circulated anything yet. They spoke on condition of anonymity because there has been no U.S. announcement.

The push for Security Council action follows the failure of U.S.-brokered peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians led by Secretary of State John Kerry, this summer's 50-day war between Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian faction that controls the Gaza Strip, and the recent upsurge in violence sparked by disputes over Jerusalem's hilltop complex that is revered by Muslims and Jews.