[Dr. Aaron Lerner IMRA

Israel Television Channel One Correspondent Ayala Chason reported on the 13
November 2008 evening Mabat News program that PM Olmert and FM Livni both
oppose plans by U.S. Secretary of State Rice to pass a UN Security Council
Resolution that would, among other things, call for the establishment of a
Palestinian state.

Rice told Olmert and Livni of her plans during her recent visit to Israel.

Chason noted that Israel sees this move by Rice as much a matter of her
wanting to end her career as Secretary of State with something to show as a
move to promote the peace process. Among other reasons for opposing the
initiative, Israel is concerned that the wording of such a resolution would
ultimately be slanted against Israel's interests in order to pass.

According to Chason, Rice warned Olmert and Livni that a UNSC Resolution
would help push for a two state solution and that otherwise there may be a
shift towards a "one state solution".]

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UN poised to adopt resolution urging Israel, PA to continue talks
By Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent Last update - 22:17 13/12/2008
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1046185.html

The United Nations 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.

The Annapolis talks had set a goal of achieving a substantive peace accord
before President George W. Bush leaves office in January.

The move to bring the council to adopt the resolution was personally led by
U.S. President George W. Bush, who hosted the Annapolis conference. The
initiative is seen as a bid to cement the Annapolis process with the
approval of the highest authority.

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.