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UN Security Council to vote on settlement resolution later today
The United Nations’ (UN) Security Council will vote this evening on an unexpected resolution submitted yesterday by Egypt, which calls on Israel to “cease all settlement activities” in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The text specifies that Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem have “no legal validity and constitutes a flagrant violation under international law and a major obstacle to the achievement of the two-state solution”.
The resolution also demands other countries to “distinguish, in their relevant dealings, between the territory of the State of Israel and the territories occupied since 1967”.
Resolutions from the Palestinian and New Zealand delegations have already been circulated. However, the Egyptian draft, which was submitted to Security Council members last night came as a surprise, given the recent warm relations between Israel and Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
The UK has yet to declare whether it will support the resolution or abstain. On 12 December Prime Minister Theresa May said in a major speech: “That is why we have been clear about building new, illegal settlements: it is wrong; it is not conducive to peace; and it must stop.”
Israeli officials had expected a similar resolution before US President Obama leaves office next month. Haaretz says that Israeli officials believe the United States has yet to decide how to vote during this evening’s session. In 2011, Washington vetoed a similar resolution and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last night via social media that they “should veto the anti-Israel resolution at the UN Security Council on Thursday”.
There has been concern among Israeli leaders that Obama will seek to make a statement which pressurizes Israel over settlements before he leaves office. Others argue that Obama does not wish to make dramatic policy changes, which will likely be reversed by incoming President Donald Trump.
Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon said: “We expect our greatest friend not to let such a one-sided and anti-Israel resolution pass.”
Danon described the resolution as “the epitome of absurdity and UN hypocrisy” at a time when “thousands are massacred in Syria, the Security Council is devoting time to debating censuring the only democracy in the Middle East”.