UN condemns Israel for expanding occupied territories
2023.02.20 14:48
UN condemns Israel for expanding occupied territories
By Tiffany Smith
Budrigannews.com – The first action that the United States has permitted the body to take against its ally Israel in six years was the formal statement that the United Nations Security Council issued on Monday condemning Israel’s plan to expand settlements on occupied Palestinian territory.
Washington’s support for the presidential statement came after the United Arab Emirates said it would not put a stronger draft resolution on the issue up for vote, which could have led to a U.S. veto. The 15-member council must agree on the action by consensus.
According to the council’s statement, “The Security Council reiterates that continuing Israeli settlement activities are dangerously imperiling the viability of the two-State solution based on the 1967 lines.” Israel’s announcement on February 12 deeply concerns and astonishes the Security Council.
In contrast, Israel would have been required to “immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory” under the draft resolution that was seen by Reuters. To be adopted, a resolution needs nine votes and no vetoes from the United States, Russia, China, France, or Britain.
The Palestinians, who want the West Bank for a future state, were enraged when the religious-nationalist coalition government of Israel approved nine settler outposts that had been built without government approval on February 12.
Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian U.N. envoy, told the council, “All the ingredients are there for us to reach a point of no return.” It matters what we do right now. Every word we say has an impact. Every decision we put off is important.”
On Sunday, the UAE informed its counterparts in the Security Council that “given the positive talks between the parties,” it would not vote on the draft resolution on Monday.
On Monday, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that Israel would not authorize any further settlements in the occupied West Bank in the upcoming months.
Monday, Netanyahu’s office said that the Security Council’s statement was “one-sided” and that it was supported by the United States, adding, The United States should not have joined the statement and should not have made it.”
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the American Ambassador to the United Nations, informed the Security Council that the United States is opposed to Israel’s plans for a settlement on February 12.
“Tensions are made worse by these unilateral measures. They undermine trust among the parties. They make it more difficult to negotiate a two-state solution. She stated, “The United States of America does not support these actions at all.”
“Real diplomacy at work,” according to Thomas-Greenfield, “shows how seriously the council takes these threats to peace,” and he added: Together with the other council members, the United States has pleaded with both Israelis and Palestinians to take the immediate and necessary measures to restore order and enhance their people’s quality of life.”
The Obama administration abstained from a Security Council vote in December 2016, allowing the body to adopt a resolution requiring Israel to stop building settlements.
The majority of nations consider Israel’s construction of settlements on Arab-occupied territory, which it gained in a 1967 war, to be illegal. That is contested by Israel, which cites security concerns in addition to biblical, historical, and political ties to the West Bank.
