TEL AVIV – A non-binding United Nations Security Council resolution on the two-state solution may be the best way to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, opined a New York Times editorial published Monday.
“There are several options, but the best may be a resolution that puts the United Nations Security Council on record supporting the basic principles of a deal covering borders, the future of Jerusalem, Palestinian refugees, security, and land swaps, but not imposing anything on the two parties,” the editorial said.
The paper condemned what it claimed were Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s lackluster efforts in the peace process, saying that the Israeli prime minister has “never shown a serious willingness” to progress toward a peace deal, “as is made clear by his expansion of Israeli settlements, which reduce the land available for a Palestinian state.”
It also criticized Abbas as “a weak and aging leader who has given up on peace.”
The editorial claimed that President Barack Obama “may be presiding over the death of the two-state solution.”
The paper castigated Netanyahu for the latter’s alleged request to increase American aid to Israel to $4 billion annually, a sum it deems “unreasonable.”
A push for a UNSC resolution would mark a departure from the Obama administration’s stance that resolving the conflict must take place only through direct negotiations between the two sides.
Government officials in Washington said in the fall that the president did not expect to arrive at a two-state solution by the time he leaves office. The U.S. has since pushed for a plan that would move the process forward so that the next administration will be in a better position to do so.
Last month, Breitbart Jerusalem reported that Netanyahu was concerned that Obama would abandon the U.S.’s “automatic veto” policy at the UNSC, and would use his final weeks in office to back resolutions that would prove detrimental to Israel.
For her part, presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton expressly stated that she was against the UNSC imposing terms on the peace process.
On Monday, France unveiled its plan to revive the peace process with an international peace conference this summer. However, according to Reuters, Israeli Foreign Ministry officials responded by saying that they are not convinced by the logic behind the French initiative.