UN settler vote a big blow to Israel

The Obama administration abstained from voting on a United Nations Security Council resolution condemning Israel’s West Bank expansion. Israel reacted fiercely. Tel Aviv accused Washington of abandoning its closest Middle East ally. The resolution called Israeli settlements illegal and demanded that country immediately stop construction in West bank and other territories seized in 1967 Middle East war.
Some 430,000 Israeli settlers currently live in the West Bank and a further 200,000 Israelis live in east Jerusalem, which Palestinians see as the capital of their future state. US abstention from voting is unprecedented. It is rare and momentous step. It will pave the way for the adoption of the first UN resolution since 1979 to condemn Israel over its settlement policy.
The move by the Security Council came despite an effort led by Israel and backed by US President-elect Donald Trump to block the text.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu immediately rejected the UN resolution and slammed the outgoing administration of President Barack Obama for refusing to veto it.
“Israel rejects this shameful anti-Israel resolution at the UN and will not abide by its terms,” a statement from Netanyahu’s office said. “Israel looks forward to working with President-elect Trump and with all our friends in Congress, Republicans and Democrats alike, to negate the harmful effects of this absurd resolution,” It said.
Trump reacted after the vote by promising change at the world body after he takes office next month. The settlements in West Bank are roadblock to the very concept of two-state solution.
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 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.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas’s office said that the move is ‘a big blow for the Israeli political policy, a condemnation for settlements and consensus by the international community and a support for the two-state solution.’
The UN vote marks a core change in the position of the UN Security Council. It shows the dangers of Israeli policy, which undermines the two-state solution. It reflects a consensus view of the international community on the settlement issue.
The resolution is consistent with longstanding bipartisan American policy, which includes strong support for the two-state solution, and clear opposition to irresponsible and damaging actions, by both the parties.
It is too early to say about the utility of Obama administration’s move in the face of Trump’s public stance on US-Israel ties. The president-elect had said during his presidential campaign that he would move the US embassy in Tel Aviv to the contested city of Jerusalem, a shift Palestinians say would effectively end the peace process. He chose as ambassador to Israel the hardliner David Friedman, who has said Washington will not seek to curtail settlement building in the occupied West Bank.
Although the US move came at fag end of Obama presidency, but he opted for a binding Security Council vote that will weaken Israel’s position in any future peace talks. The vote brings into focus the international community’s collective efforts to reconfirm that the two states solution is still achievable. And it is a major step to achieve a lasting peace in the region.