Draft UN resolution condemns green light for Israeli annexation in Trump 'Deal of the Century'

A draft United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution on Tuesday condemned Israel's plans to annex large swathes of the West Bank in a move outlined in US President Donald Trump’s controversial peace plan.

The draft text has been circulated among the council members by Tunisia and Indonesia and strongly protests Trump's plans for the Palestinian territories, which human rights groups have said violates international law. The resolution is likely to be vetoed by the US.

Despite this, it still registers serious UN anger at Trump's green light for Israel to annex the Jordan Valley and other parts of the West Bank.

Diplomats said negotiations on the draft are likely to begin later this week, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to speak to the council next week about the plan, which coincides with a vote on the draft resolution.

Read More: 'Deal of the Century': Palestinians feel letdown but can they resist American and Israeli dictation?

The resolution "stresses the illegality of the annexation of any part" of occupied Palestinian territories and "condemns recent statements calling for annexation by Israeli" of these territories, according to a draft seen by Reuters.

Trump's plan has been widely condemned by the international community, including Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the deal "stillborn" while Iran described it as "treason of the century".

Abbas on Saturday announced the PA would cut all ties with Israel and the US, including security cooperation.

Abbas said the peace plan unveiled, by US President Donald Trump on 28 January, was in "violation of the (autonomy) accords" launched in Oslo in 1993 by Israel and the Palestinians.

Trump's proposed deal would support Israel's claims to territories occupied by illegal settlements in the West Bank, making a Palestinian state - with its capital in a village east of Jerusalem - unviable, the PA says.

The plan was put together by Trump's senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner, who will brief Security Council ambassadors on the plan on Thursday.

The resolution pushes for an acceleration of international and regional efforts to launch "credible negotiations on all final status issues in the Middle East peace process without exception".

A US veto at the council level would allow the Palestinians to take the draft text to the 193-member UN General Assembly, where a vote would publicly show how Trump's peace plan has been received internationally.