Arab League to seek new UN Security Council resolution on Palestine

The deputy secretary-general of the Arab League, Ambassador Ahmed Ben Helli, announced on Tuesday that the Arab League will be holding consultations to obtain a new UN Security Council resolution on the Palestinian issue in the near future.

Ben Helli spoke to reporters following his meeting with New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully in Cairo. He affirmed that the new resolution must set a timetable for serious negotiations that address all outstanding issues and seek to end the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories. These negotiations, he stated, must also seek to establish an independent Palestinian state along 1967 borders and with its capital in East Jerusalem.

Ben Helli said the consultations will be conducted by the Arab Ministerial Committee and the member states of the Security Council.

He pointed out that New Zealand will chair the Security Council at the beginning of next July, so it is keen to hold consultations with all parties concerned in order for the Council to assume its responsibilities towards the Palestinian issue and break the current stalemate in Palestinian-Israeli negotiations.