Mahmoud Abbas: Palestinians Risking $700m in US Aid over UN Israel Resolution

The Palestinian Authority is under increasing pressure to drop plans for a UN Security Council resolution that will timetable the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the occupied Palestinian Territories because of the threat of losing US aid, according to to President Mahmoud Abbas.

The decision to press ahead with the draft resolution is risking $700m a year in aid from Washington, Abbas claimed.

"The Palestinian leadership is coming under heavy pressure not to go to the Security Council or join international organisations, and the main pressure relates to aid," he said, in reference to the aid the US gives.

"Relations with the US administration are strained... and it is not in our interest to worsen it. But at the same time, we cannot go back on our decision."

The draft resolution has identified November 2016 as the deadline to be demanded for complete Israeli withdrawal of the occupied Palestinian territories.

"It is important to establish an end-date for the occupation, whether that's one year, two years or three," he said.

"We will not engage in any negotiations which do not set down a timetable for realising our objectives."

The text of the bill states an Israeli withdrawal must happen "as rapidly as possible and to be fully completed within a specified timeframe, not to exceed November 2016, and the achievement of the independence and sovereignty of the State of Palestine and the right to self-determination of the Palestinian people".

The draft resolution requests "all parties to abide by their obligations under international humanitarian law, including the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War of 12 August 1949".

It also "demands an end to all Israeli military operations, reprisals, forced displacement of civilians, and all acts of violence and hostilities".

The warning comes after Abbas's critical speech at the United Nations Summit in New York in which he accused Israel of committing a "war of genocide" on the Palestinian people.