Documents detailing talks with US on UN vote 'fabricated', Palestinians say

Chief Palestinian Negotiator Saeb Erekat on Wednesday denied reports that he had discussed with US officials details of the United Nations resolution while on a visit to Washington earlier this month, dismissing the reports as "fabrications."

The Egyptian Al-Youm Al-Sabaa news site had published "leaked" documents which it said contained the minutes of the meeting between Erekat, Palestinian Authority General Intelligence Service Director Majed Faraj, John Kerry and US National Security Adviser Susan Rice.

The meeting reportedly took place on December 12, and the documents published include five pages of notes in written in Arabic.

According to the report, the Arabic documents describe Kerry telling the Palestinian delegation that the US would not veto the resolution as long as the wording was balanced.

Additionally, the documents claim that Rice warned the Palestinians that President-elect Donald Trump's stance on the Israeli-Palestinian could prove disastrous for them, and advised against making any provocative moves.

The documents have not been independently verified.

Israel has repeatedly claimed that the Obama administration was behind last week's UN Security Council vote on Israeli West Bank settlements.

The resolution by the United Nations Security Council was the first in more than 38 years to condemn Israel over its settlement policy.  It was passed by a vote of 14-0, with the Israel's key ally the US abstaining.

“Israel stands by the things that were said,” the Prime Minister's Office said in a statement on Monday. “The Obama administration is behind the draft and advancement of the Security Council resolution.

Israel's Ambassador to the US Ron Dermer told CNN in an interview earlier that day that Israel has evidence that the Obama administration is behind the resolution.

"We will present this evidence to the new administration through the appropriate channels. If they want to share it with the American people they are welcome to do it," Dermer told CNN.

It is unclear whether the documents are connected to the evidence that Dermer spoke of.

Erekat confirmed that a meeting had taken place but slammed the details in the documents as "fabrications."

The Palestinian Ma'an news agency said that Erekat argued that the documents were created by people close to Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman and Austrian-Jewish businessman Martin Schlaff to support Israel's claims that the US went behind their backs.

The US has also denied the accusations that it cooperated with the Palestinians on drafting the resolution, with a senior State Department Official saying on Tuesday that "there is just no truth to the notion that we discussed a text of any resolutions, that we previewed any position that we might take on a hypothetical resolution in those meetings. So this – these notions of collusion based on those accounts are just not – not correct." 

The State department published a press release on the day of the meeting with the Palestinian delegation in which it stated that during the meeting, the two parties discussed the threat of the Islamic State in the region, condemned terror, and talked about advancing Palestinian economic and political opportunities.

According to the press release "both delegations also discussed the significance of the PLO’s long-standing commitment to non-violence and reiterated their commitment to a negotiated two-state outcome, which is the only way to achieve an enduring peace that meets Israeli and Palestinian security needs and Palestinian aspirations for statehood and sovereignty, end the occupation that began in 1967, and resolve all permanent status issues.

Kerry is scheduled to give an address Wednesday in which he will lay out "a comprehensive vision" on resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.