"A Palestinian Authority-drafted UN Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlements would not be legally binding, even if it passed, an expert in international law said on Monday.
Alan Baker, a former Israeli ambassador to Canada who heads the Institute for Contemporary Affairs at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (JCPA), was referring to the PA resolution, which has been circulating ahead of President Mahmoud Abbas' multi-country trip on which he embarked Tuesday...
'I presume and hope that the Americans will veto such a resolution, because [it] is purely a political statement - not a legal holding,' said Baker, who participated in the negotiation and drafting of past agreements with the Palestinians. But even if they don't, he said, 'The resolution will have no basic effect...If the resolution isn't mandatory according to the seventh chapter of the UN Charter – and no Middle Eastern resolutions have been adopted according to the seventh chapter – it can't lead to sanctions.'..."