Indonesia is pushing for a United Nations resolution to condemn the one-sided Middle East peace deal proposed by the United States last week, as Jakarta seeks to build momentum for a showdown at the Security Council that is likely to be blocked by Washington.

The Foreign Ministry’s multilateral cooperation director general, Febrian Ruddyard, confirmed that Indonesia, together with Tunisia, had circulated a UN Security Council (UNSC) resolution earlier this week condemning illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank as well as the pro-Israel proposal.

Washington’s so-called “deal of the century”, which laid out strict conditions for a future Palestinian state, was put together without consulting Palestinians and was roundly rejected across the Muslim world through the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

As a nonpermanent member of the UNSC, Indonesia has been drumming up support to reject the US’ proposal on the world’s biggest stage.

“Indonesia is focusing its efforts at the Security Council on conducting consultations with all the relevant parties,” Febrian told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

The draft resolution will be put to the vote at the Security Council and reportedly includes a clear rejection of the US peace plan.

Last week, US President Donald Trump finally unveiled the details of the highly secretive proposal, which had been in the works under the auspices of Trump’s son-in-law and advisor Jared Kushner. The plan called for the demilitarization of Palestine and the formalization of Israeli rule of occupied Palestinian territory.

Both the Arab League and the OIC rejected the plan for not meeting “the minimum rights and aspirations of the Palestinian people”, while the Palestinian government in Ramallah went on to completely sever ties with both the US and Israel.

Like previous resolutions on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the draft UN text is likely to be vetoed by the US, but would provide an indication of how much support Trump has among other UN members.

If vetoed at the Security Council, the resolution will be tabled at the UN General Assembly, said Saleh Rafat, a member of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, as quoted by AFP.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will travel to the UN next week to push for the resolution.

Palestine’s permanent representative to the UN Riyad Mansour told the official Voice of Palestine radio station that Abbas would arrive in New York on Monday and address the Security Council on Tuesday.

Febrian said Indonesia would focus first and foremost on getting results at the Security Council.

“Of course we will consult with Palestine after we see the results at the Security Council. But for now we are focused on the council,” he said.

As a staunch supporter of Palestinian independence, Indonesia has placed the Middle East conflict high on its priority list at the UNSC.

On Tuesday, as Indonesia was reelected as vice chair of the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People (CEIRPP), it also called for the rejection of Trump’s plan, which goes against decades of previous UN resolutions.

“We must ensure that the Palestinian people are not adversely affected after the announcement by the US government. For this reason, this issue needs to be continuously raised and remains a concern of the international community,” said the deputy permanent representative of Indonesia to the UN, Mohammad Koba.

He also reiterated the message at the OIC ambassadorial meeting on Wednesday.

Kushner is expected to present the administration’s new Mideast peace plan in a closed-door UNSC briefing on Thursday, AFP reports. Kushner intends to set forth the plan and listen to the positions of the council’s other 14 members, sources have said. (tjs)

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