Israel yesterday urged the US to veto a UN Security Council draft resolution calling for an immediate halt to settlement building on occupied land that Palestinians want for a state.
Egypt circulated the draft on Wednesday evening and the 15-member council was to vote after press time last night, diplomats said.
Egypt’s call for a speedy vote left almost no time for negotiations among the 15 council members and some language in the draft was highly likely to be unacceptable to the US, Israel’s closest ally and a veto-wielding council member.
Photo: Reuters
The resolution would demand that Israel “immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem.”
Tweeting at 3:28am, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the US “should veto the anti-Israel resolution at the UN Security Council on Thursday.”
The White House declined to comment.
The administration of US President Barack Obama has been highly critical of settlement construction in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
US officials said this month that the president was not expected to make major moves on Israeli-Palestinian peace before leaving office.
Israel has been buoyed by the appointments of US president-elect Donald Trump.
Trump has signaled a possible change in US policy by appointing one of his lawyers — a fundraiser for a major Israeli settlement — as Washington’s new ambassador to Israel.
The draft text said the establishment of settlements by Israel has “no legal validity and constitutes a flagrant violation under international law.”
It expressed grave concern that continuing settlement activities “are dangerously imperilling the viability of a two-state solution.”
The US says continued Israeli settlement building lacks legitimacy, but has stopped short of adopting the position of many countries that it is illegal under international law.
About 570,000 Israelis live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, areas Israel captured in a 1967 war.
Analysts said nothing would change on the ground if the resolution passes, but it could spur Palestinians to seek international sanctions against Israel and impede any return to peace talks that collapsed in 2014.
Additional reporting by AP
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