Reuters - The United States on
Friday allowed the U.N. Security Council to adopt a resolution demanding an end
to Israeli settlement building, defying heavy pressure
from long-time ally
Israel and President-elect Donald Trump for Washington to wield its veto.
A U.S. abstention
paved the way for the 15-member council to approve the resolution, with 14
votes in favor, prompting applause in the council chamber. The action by
President Barack Obama's administration follows growing U.S. frustration over
the unrelenting construction of Jewish settlements on land Palestinians want
for a future independent state.
"Israel rejects
this shameful anti-Israel resolution at the U.N. and will not abide by its
terms," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has encouraged the expansion
of Jewish settlements in territory captured by Israel in a 1967 war with its
Arab neighbors, said in a statement.
The U.S. action just
weeks before Obama ends eight years as president broke with the long-standing
American approach of shielding Israel, which receives more than $3 billion in
annual U.S. military aid, from such action. The United States, Russia, France, Britain
and China have veto power on the council.
The resolution, put
forward by New Zealand, Malaysia, Venezuela and Senegal a day after Egypt
withdrew it under pressure from Israel and Trump, was the first adopted by the
council on Israel and the Palestinians in nearly eight years.
The U.S. abstention
was seen as a parting shot by Obama, who has had an acrimonious relationship
with Netanyahu and whose efforts to forge a peace agreement based on a
"two-state" solution of creating a Palestinian state existing
peacefully alongside Israel have proven futile.
Obama also faced
pressure from U.S. lawmakers, fellow Democrats as well as Republicans, to veto
the measure, and was hit with bipartisan criticism after the vote.
Trump, who takes
office on Jan. 20, took the extraordinary step by a U.S. president-elect of
personally intervening in a sensitive foreign policy matter before taking
office, speaking by telephone with Netanyahu and Egyptian President Abdel
Fattah al-Sisi before Egypt, another major U.S. aid recipient, dropped the
resolution.
Trump wrote on
Twitter after the vote, "As to the U.N., things will be different after
Jan. 20th."
"There is one
president at a time," Ben Rhodes, White House deputy national security
adviser, told reporters, dismissing Trump's criticism.
Outgoing U.N.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the resolution. Russian U.N. Ambassador
Vitaly Churkin called on Israel to "respect international law."
But Netanyahu said,
"At a time when the Security Council does nothing to stop the slaughter of
half a million people in Syria, it disgracefully gangs up on the one true
democracy in the Middle East, Israel, and calls the Western Wall 'occupied
territory.'"
Israel for decades
has pursued a policy of constructing Jewish settlements on territory captured
by Israel in a 1967 war with its Arab neighbors including the West Bank, Gaza
and East Jerusalem. Most countries view Israeli settlement activity in the West
Bank and East Jerusalem as illegal and an obstacle to peace. Israel disagrees.
'NO LEGAL VALIDITY'
The resolution
demanded that Israel "immediately and completely cease all settlement
activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East
Jerusalem" and said the establishment of settlements by Israel has
"no legal validity and constitutes a flagrant violation under
international law."
The White House said
that in the absence of any meaningful peace process, Obama made the decision to
abstain. The last round of U.S.-led peace talks between the Israelis and
Palestinians collapsed in 2014. The Palestinians want an independent state in
the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem.
"We could not
in good conscience veto a resolution that expressed concerns about the very
trends that are eroding the foundation for a two-state solution," Rhodes
said.
American U.N
ambassador Samantha Power said the United States did not veto it because the
resolution "reflects the facts on the ground and is consistent with U.S.
policy across Republican and Democratic administrations."
Successive U.S. administrations
of both parties have criticized settlement activity but have done little to
slow their growth.
The Obama
administration has called settlement expansion an "illegitimate"
policy that has undermined chances of a peace deal.
The Security Council
last adopted a resolution critical of settlements in 1979, with the United
States also abstaining.
The passage of
Friday's resolution changes nothing on the ground between Israel and the
Palestinians and likely will be all but ignored by the incoming Trump
administration.
But it was more than
merely symbolic. It formally enshrined the international community’s
disapproval of Israeli settlement building and could spur further Palestinian
moves against Israel in international forums.
PALESTINIAN SAYS
U.N. MOVE 'BIG BLOW' TO ISRAEL POLICY
Trump is likely to
be a more staunch supporter of Netanyahu's right-wing policies. He has picked a
hardline pro-Israel ambassador and vowed to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv
to Jerusalem, in what would be a major reversal of long-standing American
policy.
The U.N. action was
"a big blow to Israeli policy, a unanimous international condemnation of
settlements and a strong support for the two-state solution," a spokesman
for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said in a statement published by the
official Palestinian news agency Wafa.
"This is a day
of victory for international law, a victory for civilized language and
negotiation, and a total rejection of extremist forces in Israel," Chief
Palestinian Negotiator Saeb Erekat told Reuters.
Israel's U.N.
ambassador, Danny Danon, said he had no doubt the incoming Trump administration
and Ban's successor as U.N. chief, former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio
Guterres, "will usher in a new era in terms of the U.N.'s relationship
with Israel."
After the vote,
Netanyahu instructed Israel's ambassadors in New Zealand and Senegal to return
to Israel for consultations. He also ordered the cancellation of a planned
visit to Israel by Senegal's foreign minister and the cancellation of all aid
programs to Senegal.
Reuters
Follow Solenzo Blog on
0 Comments