United Nations
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Palestinian Authority diplomats want the UN Security Council to vote on a draft resolution rejecting President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital, even though the measure would almost certainly face a US veto, diplomats said Wednesday.

PA Ambassaor Riyad Mansour told AFP that the text would demand that the United States scrap the decision on Jerusalem, but other diplomats suggested the wording would not be so strong.

Egypt was expected to circulate a draft resolution to council members, possibly as early as this week, according to senior council diplomats.

Mansour said late Tuesday that he was working on a draft text that would "reaffirm the positions of the Security Council and ask the Americans to rescind."

A council diplomat said several draft texts had been shared informally but that the exact wording of the proposed draft resolution was key to ensure that all 14 council members vote in favor of the measure.

That would force the United States to resort to its veto power, a move that would highlight its isolation.

The PA and its allies "actively want a US veto and they actively want the other 14 to stay together," said the diplomat, who asked not to be named.

Some council members such as Britain, Japan and Ukraine are reluctant to back a toughly worded measure that would strongly condemn the US decision and demand its reversal.

But they would probably rally around a resolution that repeats previous language and expresses regret "about recent developments," he said.

Backed by Arab countries, the PA is also expected to ask the UN General Assembly to adopt a resolution condemning the US move.

The PA campaign at the United Nations however is not intended to remove the United States from the peace process but rather to gain leverage on any future peace plan, diplomats said.

"This is not about pushing the US out of the picture. This is about them trying to shape the eventual content of a US-led proposal to be more in line" with the PA stance, said a council diplomat.

However, PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas said that Trump's decision made US involvement in the peace process "unacceptable" to him Wednesday.

"It will be unacceptable for it (the US) to have a role in the political process any longer since it is biased in favor of Israel," Abbas said in Istanbul at an emergency meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).