Palestinians delay vote at U.N. Security Council against Trump's peace deal

"In a surprise move, the Palestinian Authority has delayed a scheduled UN Security Council vote on a resolution against the Trump administration's peace plan. But the meeting will otherwise continue as scheduled.

This includes a special address by PA President Mahmoud Abbas..

The vote on the resolution was delayed, but was expected to be moved forward a later time, a diplomatic source told The Jerusalem Post..

There was immediate speculation that the delay was a backhanded way of pulling the resolution because it lacked the requisite support of nine members for passage. Otherwise, it would have been considered that the resolution had failed..

The delay comes amid US pressure to soften the language of the resolution towards the US and Israel. A US source with direct knowledge of the negotiations between the members of the Security Council told the Post earlier on Monday that if the resolution would get a vote, a number of countries are expected to abstain..

Even if it had passed, the US had been expected to veto the original text put forward last week by UNSC members Tunisia and Indonesia....

The US and Israel had worked hard to ensure that the resolution would not pass.

'In recent days, great pressure has been brought to bear on council members. Those efforts bore fruit,' an Israeli source told the Post.

The 'Palestinians had realized they would not have much support, and they took it off the table,' the source added.

It is still unclear if the matter will be brought back to the Security Council or to the General Assembly..."