New York: The UN Security Council has approved a resolution demanding Israel cease Jewish settlement activity on Palestinian territory in a unanimous vote that passed when the United States abstained in the wake of meddling by President-elect Donald Trump and Egypt.
The resolution declared Israeli settlements illegal under international law and demanded that the country cease construction in the West Bank and other territories captured in the 1967 Middle East war. It said the settlements, including those in East Jerusalem, have "no legal validity". It said they threaten the viability of the two-state solution, and it urged Israelis and Palestinians to return to negotiations that lead to two independent nations.
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US abstains from UN Israeli vote
The United States declines to veto the UN Security Council resolution calling on Israel to stop building settlements on occupied Palestinian territory.
The United States' abstained from the vote instead of using its veto as it has reliably done in the past. It was a rare rebuke to Israel, and reflected mounting frustration in President Barack Obama's administration over settlement growth that the US considers an obstacle to peace. With President Obama's time in office due to end in barely a month, his decision not to veto was a symbolic statement of that displeasure.
The decision highlighted the increasingly tenuous ties between the Obama administration and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government. A senior Israeli official, who asked not to be identified, accused the US of secretly drafting the resolution in conjunction with the Palestinian Authority. The Obama administration rejected that accusation.
The 14-0 vote, with only the US abstaining, followed an intense campaign from Israel to derail it. It was to have been voted on Thursday, but Egypt withdrew its sponsorship after the country's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi spoke by phone with President-elect Donald Trump, who got involved at Israel's request in an extraordinary intervention before his inauguration. Friday's resolution was sponsored by New Zealand, Malaysia, Venezuela and Senegal.
"In the absence of any meaningful peace process, as well as in the face of the acceleration of settlement activity that put at risk the viability of a two-state solution, we took the steps we did today," said Ben Rhodes, the White House deputy national security adviser.
Danny Danon, the Israeli ambassador to the UN, excoriated the Security Council after the vote, saying they did not have the right to tell Israelis not to build in Jerusalem, and suggesting it will have little impact on Israeli policies.
"We overcame those decrees during the time of the Maccabees, and we will overcome this evil decree today," he said.
Samantha Power, the US ambassador to the UN, said immediately after the vote that Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry have privately and publicly been warning Israel that the moribund prospects for peace were undermining Israel's ability to remain both Jewish and democratic.
The resolution also condemned Palestinian incitement to violence and all acts of terrorism. Power said the US would not have allowed its passage without that proviso. She also criticiSed the UN itself, saying it had perpetuated a double standard by repeatedly condemning Israeli actions while remaining silent about Palestinian incitement.
The vote brought a swift reaction, particularly in Israel and in Congress.
"This is absolutely shameful," House Speaker Paul Ryan, said in a statement, promising that next year, "our unified Republican government will work to reverse the damage done by this administration, and rebuild our alliance with Israel".
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain, said abstaining made the US "complicit in this outrageous attack" on Israel, and predicted the resolution "will serve as yet a another roadblock to peace between Israelis and Palestinians, and embolden the enemies of Israel."
Meanwhile Senator Lindsey Graham, who chairs the Appropriations subcommittee that deals with foreign aid, threatened earlier on Friday to reduce the US's contributions to the UN and any country that voted for resolution.
After the vote, Graham tweeted that "Obama-Kerry foreign policy has gone from naive and foolish to flat-out reckless. With friends like these #Israel doesn't need any enemies."
In Israel, Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz, a close ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said the resolution was not only against settlements but was also anti-Israel and against Jews everywhere.
"After eight years of friendship with Obama and joint work, this move hurts," he said.
Danon expressed hope for a change to what he called "this disgraceful resolution" under Trump.
"I have no doubt that the new US administration and the incoming UN Secretary General will usher in a new era in terms of the UN's relationship with Israel," he said.
The incoming US president has taken a very public stance on US-Israel ties, vowing to move the US embassy in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a move Palestinians say would effectively end the peace process.
He's also nominated David Friedman, a staunch supporter of settlements who opposes a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, as his ambassador to Israel.
Washington Post, Bloomberg
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