Hamas senior spokesperson demands withdrawal of draft resolution on Palestinian statehood

© Sputnik/ Nazar Aljan

The draft resolution on Palestinian Statehood that was submitted to the United Nations Security Council last week must be withdrawn, a senior spokesperson for Hamas Sami Abu Zuhri told Sputnik Tuesday.

The resolution sets a deadline of 12 months from the document's approval to the removal of Israeli forces from the occupied Palestinian territories.

Zuhri said that the different Palestinian factions had not managed to reach a consensus regarding the resolution's project and therefore it must be cancelled.

The Hamas spokesperson noted that the draft resolution "leaves many loopholes" and does not satisfy the minimum demands of Palestinians, therefore making the resolution of conflict impossible.

Last week, the Permanent Observer of Palestine to the UN, Riyad Mansour said that following the submission of the draft resolution, Israel and the Palestinians will continue negotiating. Mansour expressed hope that the document that the UN Security Council may adopt would "open a serious door to peace."

The State of Palestine was proclaimed by the Palestine National Council on November 15, 1988. It has laid claims to the territories occupied by Israel in the course of the Six-Day War in 1967, including the West Bank with East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.

In November, 2012, the Palestinian Authority obtained non-member observer nation status at the United Nations. Currently, 135 countries recognize the Palestinian Authority as a sovereign state.