UN Security Council to meet over Trump's controversial Mideast plan

UNITED NATIONS - The United Nations Security Council is scheduled to meet in the week of Feb 10 to discuss the US-proposed Middle East peace plan, diplomatic sources said on Sunday.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israel's ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon will attend the meeting, the sources said, adding that the Palestinian delegation is preparing a resolution that would condemn the controversial plan, though the resolution will likely be vetoed by the United States.

Danon is currently meeting with his counterparts on the Security Council to enlist their support for the joint US-Israeli action and "to prevent support for any Palestinian declarations of protest," according to a press note issued Saturday by the Israeli UN mission.

On Jan 28, US President Donald Trump revealed his controversial Middle East peace plan, also known as the "Deal of the Century," calling for a two-state solution while recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's "undivided capital."

The US president outlined the 80-page plan at the White House along with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying that it proposes a "realistic" two-state solution.

A UN spokesman said Tuesday that the position of the United Nations on the two-state solution of Israel and Palestine has been defined, throughout the years, by relevant Security Council and General Assembly resolutions.

He added the United Nations remains committed to supporting Palestinians and Israelis to resolve their conflict on the basis of United Nations resolutions, international law and bilateral agreements, to realize the vision of two states living side by side in peace and security within recognized borders on the basis of the pre-1967 lines.

Permanent Observer of Palestine to the United Nations Riyad Mansour on Wednesday said that Trump's plan "will fail."

"We believe that the Trump plan, (or) the Trump-(Benjamin) Netanyahu plan, which is an attempt to destroy the national rights of the Palestinian people, will fail," Mansour told reporters at the UN headquarters in New York.

In an emergency meeting at the Arab League (AL) headquarters in Cairo on Saturday, Arab foreign ministers unanimously agreed to boycott the US plan and not to cooperate "in any way" with Washington in its implementation.