Abbas hopes Paris summit will set timetable for Palestinian independence

It comes after the US broke with past practice and allowed the UN Security Council to condemn Israeli settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem as a “flagrant violation” of international law

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas speaks during a press conference in the West Bank city of Bethlehem on January 6, 2016. Majdi Mohammed/AP Photo

RAMALLAH // The Palestinian president said on Tuesday he hopes an upcoming peace conference in France will set a timetable for independence after the UN demanded a halt to the construction of Israeli settlements.

Israel is meanwhile advancing plans for thousands of new homes in occupied east Jerusalem despite the UN Security Council resolution. The Palestinians want to make that part of the city their future capital.

The United States broke with past practice and allowed the Security Council to condemn Israeli settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem as a “flagrant violation” of international law.

“The decision lays the foundation for any future serious negotiation ... and it paves the way for the international peace conference slated to be held in Paris next month,” President Mahmoud Abbas said early on Tuesday in his first public remarks since the UN vote.

“We hope this conference comes up with a mechanism and timetable to end the occupation,” Mr Abbas told a meeting of his Fatah party. “The [resolution] proves that the world rejects the settlements, as they are illegal.”

On January 15, days before President Barack Obama leaves office, France is expected to host a conference where dozens of countries may endorse an international framework for peace between Israel and the Palestinians. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu vehemently opposes such a move, saying it would undermine the negotiating process.

Mr Netanyahu has called on Mr Abbas to meet for direct talks without preconditions. Mr Abbas has refused unless Israel first ends settlement construction.

The Palestinians want the West Bank and east Jerusalem, areas, occupied by Isael, as parts of their future state. Israel says settlements, along with other core issues like security, should be agreed upon in direct talks.

Despite the UN resolution condemning settlements, Jerusalem Municipality is set to approve thousands of new housing units in the eastern sector of the city this week. The Jerusalem District Zoning Committee is convening on Wednesday to discuss approving fresh construction in that part of the city.

“We remain unfazed by the UN vote, or by any other entity that tries to dictate what we do in Jerusalem,” deputy Jerusalem mayor Meir Turgeman, who heads the zoning committee, told the paper this week. “I hope the Israeli government and the new US administration will support us, so we can make up for the lack [of construction] during the eight years of the Obama administration.”

Mr Netanyahu was outraged by the UN Security Council resolution and has declared a number of steps in response to the measure, which passed 14-0 with an American abstention.

Israel summoned ambassadors from council members, including the US, to protest. Mr Netanyahu is recalling his nation’s ambassadors to New Zealand and Senegal for consultations and cancelling a planned January visit to Israel by Senegal’s foreign minister. He also ended Israeli aid programmes to the African country.

Israel’s Haaretz newspaper reported on Tuesday that 1,506 housing units for Israelis have already been approved in East Jerusalem this year, compared with 395 in 2015.

Some 570,000 Israelis live in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, in settlements considered to be illegal under international law.

*Associated Press and Reuters