© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A view shows the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim in the Israeli-occupied West Bank February 25, 2020. REUTERS/Ammar Awad/File Photo
By Michelle Nichols
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The UN Security Council issued a formal statement on Monday denouncing Israel’s plan to expand settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory, the first action the United States has allowed the body to take against its ally Israel in six years.
Washington’s endorsement of the presidential statement, an action the 15-member council must agree to by consensus, came after the United Arab Emirates said it would not vote on a stronger draft resolution on the issue, a move that could to have provoked the veto of the United States. .
“The Security Council reiterates that continued Israeli settlement activities are dangerously endangering the viability of the two-state solution based on the 1967 lines,” the council said in the statement. “The Security Council expresses deep concern and dismay at Israel’s February 12 announcement.”
In contrast, the draft resolution, seen by Reuters, would have required Israel “to immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory.” The resolutions need nine votes in favor and no vetoes from the United States, Russia, China, France or Britain to be adopted.
Israel’s religious-nationalist coalition government on February 12 gave retroactive authorization to nine settler outposts that had been erected without government approval, angering Palestinians who want the West Bank as a future state.
“All the ingredients are there for us to reach a point of no return,” Palestinian UN envoy Riyad Mansour told the council. “Every action we take now matters. Every word we speak matters. Every decision we delay matters.”
‘UNILATERAL’
The United Arab Emirates told its Security Council counterparts on Sunday that it would not vote on the draft resolution on Monday “given the positive talks between the parties.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Monday that Israel will not authorize new settlements in the occupied West Bank in the coming months.
Netanyahu’s office described Monday’s Security Council statement as “one-sided” and criticized the United States for supporting it, adding: “The statement should not have been made and the United States should not have joined it.”
US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the Security Council that the US opposes Israel’s February 12 settlement plans.
“These unilateral measures exacerbate tensions. They damage trust between the parties. They undermine the prospects for a negotiated two-state solution. The United States does not support these actions, period,” he said.
Thomas-Greenfield described the presidential statement as “real diplomacy at work” that shows how seriously the council “takes these threats to peace,” adding: “The United States joined other members of this council in asking Israelis and Palestinians to take urgent measures”. and the steps necessary to restore calm and improve the quality of life of its people.
In December 2016, the administration of US President Barack Obama abstained in a Security Council vote, allowing the body to adopt a resolution demanding that Israel stop building settlements.
Most world powers view as illegal the settlements Israel has built on land it captured in a 1967 war with Arab powers. Israel disputes this, citing biblical, historical and political links to the West Bank, as well as security interests.