The UN Security Council yesterday demanded that Israel halt settlements in Palestinian territory, after the United States refrained from vetoing a resolution condemning its closest Middle East ally.
In a rare and momentous step, the United States instead abstained, enabling the adoption of the first UN resolution since 1979 to condemn Israel over its settlement policy.
Applause broke out in the chamber after the text was passed with support from all remaining members of the 15-member council.
The landmark move by the Security Council came despite an effort led by Israel and backed by US President-elect Donald Trump to block the text.
Trump reacted after the vote in a tweet, vowing: “As to the UN, things will be different after Jan. 20th.”
Ambassador Samantha Power said the US abstention stemmed from concerns that the expansion of the Jewish outposts was threatening the two-state solution aimed at achieving peace by creating a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
“We do not believe that outside parties can impose a solution that has not been negotiated by the two parties, nor can we unilaterally recognise a future Palestinian state,” said Power.
“But it is precisely our commitment to Israel’s security that makes the United States believe that we cannot stand in the way of this resolution as we seek to preserve a chance of attaining our longstanding objective of two states living side by side in peace and security,” she said.
“The settlement problem has gotten so much worse that it is now putting at risk the very viability of that two-state solution,” said Power.
Israeli settlements are seen as a major stumbling block to peace efforts, as they are built on land the Palestinians see as part of their future state.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s office said the vote was “a big blow” to Israeli policy and a show of “strong support for the two-state solution.”
The United Nations maintains that settlements are illegal, but UN officials have reported a surge in construction over the past months.
Some 430,000 Israeli settlers currently live in the West Bank and a further 200,000 Israelis live in East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians see as the capital of their future state.
The resolution demands that “Israel immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem.”
It states that Israeli settlements have “no legal validity” and are “dangerously imperiling the viability of the two-state solution.”
Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon criticised the administration of President Barack Obama for not vetoing “this disgraceful resolution.”
“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,” said Danon.
An Israeli official earlier bitterly complained that the US abstention was “an abandonment of Israel which breaks decades of US policy of protecting Israel at the UN and undermines the prospects of working with the next administration of advancing peace.”
The vote was scheduled at the request of four countries - New Zealand, Malaysia, Senegal and Venezuela - who stepped in to push for action after Egypt on Thursday put the draft resolution on hold.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi had backtracked on the move to condemn Israel’s settlement policy after receiving a phone call from President-elect Trump, who spoke out in favour of a US veto.
The United States vetoed a similar resolution in 2011, which was the sole veto cast by the Obama administration at the Security Council.
Washington has used its veto 30 times to block council resolutions concerning Israel and the Palestinians, according to Security Council Report, a research organisation.
It last abstained in 2009 on a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had urged Washington to block the draft, pointing to years of US willingness “to stand up in the UN and veto anti-Israel resolutions.”
He received vocal support from Trump, who campaigned on a promise to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
“As the United States has long maintained, peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians will only come through direct negotiations between the parties, and not through the imposition of terms by the United Nations,” Trump said in a statement Thursday.
Trump has chosen as ambassador to Israel the hardliner David Friedman, who has said Washington will not seek to curtail settlement building in the occupied West Bank.
The Middle East peace process has been comatose since a US initiative to re-launch peace talks collapsed in April 2014.

It’s a ‘day of victory’, say Palestinians
A UN Security Council vote to adopt a resolution demanding an end to Israeli settlements marks “a day of victory,” a senior Palestinian official said yesterday.
“This is a day of victory for international law, a victory for civilised language and negotiation and a total rejection of extremist forces in Israel,” Chief Palestinian Negotiator Saeb Erekat said.
“The international community has told the people of Israel that the way to security and peace is not going to be done through occupation but rather through peace, ending the occupation and establishing a Palestinian state to live side by side with the state of Israel on the 1967 line,” Erekat said.
“December 23 is a historic day and a victory for international legitimacy, international law and international documents,” he said.
“The Security Council decision is a big blow for Israeli policies,” said Palestinian presidency spokesman Abu Rudeina.
The move was “an international and unanimous condemnation of settlements and strong support for the two-state solution,” he said.
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