AMMAN — Israel has reportedly come to an agreement with the Palestinian Authority (PA) to postpone unilateral actions for several months in an effort to decrease tensions in the West Bank during Ramadan, Israeli sources reported.
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This understanding has been reached under heavy pressure from the US, according to two Israeli sources familiar with the matter, as reported by the Walla news site.
The PA has reportedly agreed to delay its motion to call a UN Security Council vote against Israel’s settlement expansion, which Washington wants to avoid vetoing. Instead, Security Council members are preparing a symbolic, non-binding statement that includes a condemnation of both settlement construction and recent Palestinian attacks. In return, Israel has promised to postpone the approval of additional construction in West Bank settlements by several months, delay evictions of Palestinians, and reduce the number of Israeli raids in Palestinian cities.
While the outlet reports that senior US officials have confirmed the understanding, an Israeli diplomatic source denies that any agreements have been made and claims that all settlement construction plans for the coming months were already approved last week.
The planning committee is not scheduled to reconvene for the next three months.
UAE withdraws resolutionThe UAE informed the UN Security Council on Sunday that it will not call for a vote on Monday on a draft resolution demanding that Israel "immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory," according to a note seen by Reuters.
The UAE said in the note that it will instead work on drafting a formal statement, known as a presidential statement (PRST), that would require the consensus of all 15 members of the council. "Given the positive talks between the parties, we are now working on a draft PRST which would garner consensus," the note said. "Accordingly, there will not be a vote on the draft resolution on Monday. Much of the language of the PRST will be drawn from the draft resolution."
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