US Secretary of State John Kerry talks before meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at Villa Taverna, on Sunday, December 14, 2014. (AFP)
US Secretary of State John Kerry meets chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat in London Tuesday hoping to avert a diplomatic crisis over a UN bid to force Israel to withdraw from Palestinian land.
Kerry will seek to persuade the Palestinians not to rush ahead with a draft UN resolution seeking to set a two-year timetable for an end to the Israeli occupation.
He has spent the past two days in Europe meeting his counterparts as well as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to gauge support for the Palestinian effort at the UN Security Council.
He will also meet Tuesday with the secretary general of the Arab League, Nabil al-Arabi, seeking to keep key Arab allies on board with the US diplomacy, plus Quartet representative Tony Blair.
More violence in the West Bank overnight, when a Palestinian was killed during an Israeli military operation in the Qalandiya refugee camp, highlighted the tensions.
A UN resolution is the "only option left to the Palestinian leadership," said Abdel Majid Sweilem, a Palestinian political analyst.
George Jiacaman of Birzeit University in the West Bank said going to the UN was "an alternative to measures the Palestinian street is demanding, such as halting security coordination with Israel".
Netanyahu warned late Monday after meeting Kerry for almost three hours in Rome that European backing for the Palestinians could harm his country.
"Attempts of the Palestinians and of several European countries to force conditions on Israel will only lead to a deterioration in the regional situation and will endanger Israel," he said in a statement.
"Therefore, we will strongly oppose this."
Kerry arrived late Monday in London having paused en route from Rome for less than two hours in Paris to meet British, French and German counterparts.
The Palestinians have said they will submit an Arab-backed draft text to the UN as early as Wednesday.
France is putting together a more nuanced version setting a two-year timetable for concluding a peace treaty, without mentioning the withdrawal of Israeli forces.
Traditionally the US has used its power of veto at the UN Security Council to shoot down what it sees as moves against its close ally, Israel.
US undecidedUS officials told reporters accompanying Kerry that Washington has not yet decided whether to veto or back the French-led UN initiative.
"There are certain things we would never support," said a State Department official, without elaborating.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told AFP they were looking for "a resolution which everyone can get behind".
"Even if the Palestinians have a text in their hand, the Americans have already said that they will veto it."
There is a growing impatience in Europe over the failure to make progress in peace talks, amid fears the Middle East risks spiralling into even greater chaos.
Several European parliaments have called on their governments to move ahead with the recognition of a Palestinian state.
The US administration opposes moves to bind negotiators' hands through a UN resolution -- particularly any attempt to set a deadline for the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the West Bank.
But a US veto risks running contrary to Washington's avowed aim of a Palestinian state and would anger key Arab allies, many of whom are much-needed partners in the US-led coalition against Islamic State militants.