UN poised to adopt resolution urging Israel, PA to continue talks

         The UN Security Council is expected to adopt a resolution on Tuesday calling on Israel and the Palestinian authority to continue negotiations on the core issues during the course of 2009, after both the Israeli and Palestinian leaders have completed their terms, in efforts to achieve "two states for two peoples." The core issues on the negotiations table between Israel and the Palestinians include the fate of Jerusalem, parts of which the Palestinians envision as the capital of their future state, the fate of the Palestinian refugees, and the borders of a future Palestinian homeland. Sources in Jerusalem said that the move was likely to force Likud Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu to commit to the peace deal brokered at the November 2007 Annapolis conference, should he be elected prime minister in February, as polls predict. Bush believes that a UN resolution will sum up his efforts toward Middle East peace and underscore his vision of two states for two peoples. Bush is also interested in making the Annapolis process "irreversible" with the resolution, shielding it from the administration changes in both Israel and the U.S. Security Council members met Saturday in an emergency session to discuss the resolution, strongly backed by Russia, which appears to have near-unanimous support. A vote on it by the 15-nation council is expected Tuesday. The council would reiterate its vision of a region where two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, live side by side in peace within secure and recognized borders. Those U.S.-sponsored talks had set a goal of achieving a substantive peace accord before President George W. Bush leaves office in January, a scenario that appears all but impossible now. "Now, the U.S. focus is on a smooth hand-off to President-elect Barack Obama that keeps up the momentum for peace," said U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, who made a symbolic point of standing beside Russian ambassador Vitaly Churkin while addressing reporters after the council session. "This is an important time for the council to express itself on the Israeli-Palestinian issue. There is transition taking place here - by here I mean the United States - and there is of course also transition possibilities in other countries in the region," Khalilzad said. "It's also important," Khalilzad said, "that nations recognize the progress that has been made and for this process ... to be sustained, and for the council to express its support so that there is no pause in the negotiations once Bush leaves the White House." (22,35)