U.N. to vote on Palestinian demand for Israeli withdrawal, defeat likely

(Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council is expected to vote on Tuesday on a Palestinian draft resolution that calls for Israel to withdraw from Palestinian territories by late 2017, a measure that is unlikely to pass due to strong opposition from Washington.

Jordan's U.N. Ambassador Dina Kawar said Arab delegations agreed the draft should go to a vote as soon as possible. British Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant said Kawar had requested a 5:00 p.m. ET (2200 GMT) vote.

The United States and Israel oppose the Palestinian draft. Washington, council diplomats say, has made clear it does not want such a resolution put to a vote before the Israeli election in March. Britain has also said it cannot support the proposal.

Palestinian U.N. Observer Riyad Mansour, asked why his government was pushing ahead with a measure that faced almost certain defeat, said: "If one party decides for whatever reason that they do not want to go along with this massive support by the international community to find a just solution to this conflict, to try to save the two-state solution ... then it is not for lack of giving time as Arabs, it is not a lack of flexibility," he said.

The United States reiterated that it did not support the measure.

"We think this has been rushed, and that is why we do not support it, neither on substantive nor on the grounds of timing," U.S. State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke said. He added that the resolution, if adopted, would set "arbitrary deadlines."

Nine council votes are needed to pass a resolution.

Council diplomats say it is not clear the Palestinians can get nine yes votes for their resolution, which would force the United States, Israel's closest ally, to decide whether to veto it.

Israel has said a Security Council vote, following the collapse in April of U.S.-brokered talks on Palestinian statehood, would deepen the conflict.

The Palestinians, frustrated by the lack of progress in peace talks, have sought to internationalize the issue by seeking U.N. membership and recognition of statehood via membership in international organizations.

The Palestinian draft resolution calls for negotiations to be based on territorial lines that existed before Israel captured the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Middle East war.

It also calls for a peace deal within 12 months and ending Israeli occupation by the end of 2017.

An earlier Palestinian draft called for Jerusalem to be the shared capital of Israel and a Palestinian state. The final proposal reverts to a harder line, saying only that East Jerusalem will be Palestine's capital and calling for an end to Israeli settlement building.

(Reporting by Louis Charbonneau; Editing by Chris Reese and Dan Grebler)