Tunisia's ambassador to the UN has been abruptly called home and fired for lack of consultation on a Security Council resolution he helped draft responding to the US Middle East peace initiative, authorities said Friday.
Moncef Baati was faulted for an "absence of coordination and consultation" with the Tunisian foreign ministry and with representatives of Arab and Islamic countries at the United Nations, the official TAP news agency quoted the Tunisian president's office as saying.
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter
Baati is a career diplomat who came out of retirement to take the UN post in September.
Baati's dismissal raised questions as to whether the draft resolution had gone too far in countering the US, a long-time ally of Tunisia – even though the Tunisian president lambasted the peace plan just a week ago as "the injustice of the century."
Palestinian supporters last week circulated a draft UN resolution that seeks to reject the recently launched US plan to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, saying it violates international law and Security Council demands for a two-state solution based on borders before the 1967 Six-Day War.
The resolution could be put to a vote on Feb. 11 when Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to address the Security Council and deliver his government's objections to the US proposal. If a vote is held, the resolution is virtually certain to be vetoed by the United States.
The US plan, unveiled by President Donald Trump on Jan. 28, envisions a demilitarized Palestinian state that turns over key parts of Judea and Samaria to Israel.
The Palestinians seek all of Judea and Samaria for an independent state with east Jerusalem as its capital, and the removal of many of the more than 700,000 Israeli settlers from these areas.
But under terms of the American plan, all Israeli settlers would remain in place, and Israel would retain sovereignty over all of its settlements as well as the strategic Jordan Valley.
Dismissing the plan as "nonsense," Abbas declared: "We say 1,000 no's to the 'Deal of the Century,'" using a nickname for Trump's proposal.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who stood beside Trump when the plan was announced, called it a "historic breakthrough" equal in significance to the country's declaration of independence in 1948. He said it provided a green light for annexation of large parts of Judea and Samaria.
The proposed resolution, co-drafted by Indonesia and Tunisia, condemned recent Israeli statements calling for annexation "of areas of the occupied Palestinian territory" and stresses "the illegality" of any annexation.
It also reaffirmed that all Israeli settlements and other measures "aimed at altering the demographic composition, character and status of the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including east Jerusalem, are illegal and imperil the viability of a two-state solution."
The draft emphasized the need to preserve "the territorial integrity, contiguity and unity of the occupied Palestinian territory, including east Jerusalem."
It reiterated the call to achieve lasting peace "without delay" based on UN resolutions dating back to 1967. It would also give the Security Council's "unwavering support" to a two-state solution, with Israelis and Palestinians living side by side in peace based on pre-1967 borders.
The proposed resolution calls on all 193 UN member nations to comply with all relevant Security Council resolutions – and "not to render aid or assistance to illegal settlement activities" or recognize any actions or measures that might imply Israeli sovereignty over disputed Palestinian territories.
It would also express the council's determination "to examine practical ways and means to secure the full implementation of its relevant resolutions, including enforcement measures under Chapter 7 of the [UN] Charter."
