Palestinian protesters argue with Israeli soldiers during a protest against settlement construction [File: Abed al-Hashlamoni/EPA]
US abstains in demanding Israel to halt settlements on Palestinian land, allowing Security Council to pass resolution. The resolution declares Israel’s settlements in the West Bank, “including East Jerusalem,” to be illegal under international law
The UN Security Council voted on December 23 in favour of a resolution demanding the halt of settlement activity by Israel on occupied Palestinian territory with the United States notably abstaining. The resolution was put forward at the 15-member council for a vote on Friday by New Zealand, Malaysia, Venezuela and Senegal a day after Egypt withdrew it under pressure from Israel and US president-elect Donald Trump.
Israel and Trump had called on the United States to veto the measure.
"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 told Reuters news agency.
"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.
A full text of the resolution may be read at the end of the story.
In the United States, the vote was condemned by congressional leaders from both parties and by heads of the best known Jewish organizations. The Anti-Defamation League said it was “outraged over the U.S. failure to veto this biased and unconstructive UNSC resolution.” The American Jewish Committee was “deeply disappointed.”
Organizations on the left took the other side. Americans for Peace Now welcomed the U.N. vote, saying the resolution “is pro-Israel in the deepest sense of the term, supporting Israel’s existence and security, and standing against those who would sacrifice both at the altar of settlements, for an ideological, expansionist agenda.” J Street praised the U.S. decision to abstain rather than veto, claiming the U.N. resolution “reaffirms the need for a two-state solution and calls for a halt to actions by both sides that serve to undermine the prospects for peace.”
Relations between Israel and the United States sank on Friday to their lowest point in years after the Obama administration declined to veto a resolution in the United Nations Security Council declaring Israel’s settlements in the West Bank, “including East Jerusalem,” to be illegal under international law.
Israeli leaders reacted with fury. A statement from the prime minister’s office called the resolution “shameful” and said that Israel would not observe it. It went on to charge that the “Obama administration not only failed to protect Israel against the U.N.’s obsession with Israel, it collaborated with the UN behind Israel’s back.”
The government was backed by Yair Lapid of the opposition Yesh Atid party, who declared that Israel is united against the resolution and “regarding the U.N. vote there is no division in Israel between opposition and coalition.” Labor Party and Zionist Union chair Isaac Herzog, trying to sound a patriotic note while attacking Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, condemned the resolution but blamed Netanyahu for pursuing policies that left Israel isolated.
In fact the resolution didn’t say much that hasn’t been said countless times before. It condemned Israeli settlements in the West Bank — “including East Jerusalem” — as illegal “under international law” and “a major obstacle to the achievement of the two-State solution and a just, lasting and comprehensive peace.”
The resolution was adopted with 14 votes in favour to a resounding round of applause. It is the first resolution the Security Council has adopted on Israel and the Palestinians in nearly eight years.
"Israel rejects this shameful anti-Israel resolution at the UN and will not abide by its terms," a statement from the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
The United States' abstention was the biggest rebuke in recent history to longstanding ally Israel, allowing the Security Council to condemn its settlements and continuing construction in Palestinian territory as a "flagrant violation" of international law.
The resolution said Israel's settlements on Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, have "no legal validity.
It demanded a halt to "all Israeli settlement activities", saying this "is essential for salvaging the two-state solution".
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi had backtracked on the move to condemn Israel's settlement policy on Thursday after receiving a phone call from US president-elect Donald Trump, who spoke out in favour of a US veto.
Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon said his government had expected a US veto of "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 after the vote.Trump said in a tweet: "As to the UN, things will be different after Jan 20th."
Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon
Trump is likely to be a more staunch supporter of Netanyahu's right-wing policies. He named a hardline pro-Israel ambassador and vowed to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
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. The United Nations maintains that settlements are illegal, but UN officials have reported a surge in construction over the past months. Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz accused the US of abandoning Israel by abstaining."This is not a resolution against settlements, it is an anti-Israel resolution, against the Jewish people and the state of the Jews. The United States tonight has simply abandoned its only friend in the Middle East," Steinitz, who is close to Netanyahu, told Channel Two News.
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 passage of the resolution changes nothing on the ground between Israel and the Palestinians, and likely will be all but ignored by the incoming Trump administration
The resolution formally enshrined the international community's disapproval of Israeli settlement building, and could spur further Palestinian moves against Israel in international forums.Sharif Nashashibi, a London-based analyst of Arab political affairs, however said to sections of the international media that this resolution will be just one of many UN resolutions that Israel will flout."We don't have any mechanism to put tangible pressure on Israel to abide by this resolution, so I fear that despite the passing of this resolution, the Security Council has still proved itself largely irrelevant to this conflict," Nashashibi said.
Before the vote a senior Israeli official said if adopted there was "zero chance" the Israeli government would abide by the measure. Under the UN Charter, UN member states "agree to accept and carry out the decisions of the Security Council
Text of Egyptian-drafted resolution 2334 on settlements, approved by the UN Security Council, on December 23, 2016.
The Security Council,
Reaffirming its relevant resolutions, including resolutions 242 (1967), 338 (1973), 446 (1979), 452 (1979), 465 (1980), 476 (1980), 478 (1980), 1397 (2002), 1515 (2003), and 1850 (2008),
Guided by the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, and reaffirming, inter alia, the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by force,
Reaffirming the obligation of Israel, the occupying Power, to abide scrupulously by its legal obligations and responsibilities under the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, of 12 August 1949, and recalling the advisory opinion rendered on 9 July 2004 by the International Court of Justice,
Condemning all measures aimed at altering the demographic composition, character and status of the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, including, inter alia, the construction and expansion of settlements, transfer of Israeli settlers, confiscation of land, demolition of homes and displacement of Palestinian civilians, in violation of international humanitarian law and relevant resolutions,
Expressing grave concern that continuing Israeli settlement activities are dangerously imperilling the viability of the two-State solution based on the 1967 lines,
Recalling the obligation under the Quartet Roadmap, endorsed by its resolution 1515 (2003), for a freeze by Israel of all settlement activity, including “natural growth”, and the dismantlement of all settlement outposts erected since March 2001,
Recalling also the obligation under the Quartet roadmap for the Palestinian Authority Security Forces to maintain effective operations aimed at confronting all those engaged in terror and dismantling terrorist capabilities, including the confiscation of illegal weapons,
Condemning all acts of violence against civilians, including acts of terror, as well as all acts of provocation, incitement and destruction,
Reiterating its vision of a region where two democratic States, Israel and Palestine, live side by side in peace within secure and recognized borders,
Stressing that the status quo is not sustainable and that significant steps, consistent with the transition contemplated by prior agreements, are urgently needed in order to (i) stabilize the situation and to reverse negative trends on the ground, which are steadily eroding the two-State solution and entrenching a one-State reality, and (ii) to create the conditions for successful final status negotiations and for advancing the two-State solution through those negotiations and on the ground,
1. Reaffirms that the establishment by Israel of settlements in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, has no legal validity and constitutes a flagrant violation under international law and a major obstacle to the achievement of the two-State solution and a just, lasting and comprehensive peace;
2. Reiterates its demand that Israel immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, and that it fully respect all of its legal obligations in this regard;
3. Underlines that it will not recognize any changes to the 4 June 1967 lines, including with regard to Jerusalem, other than those agreed by the parties through negotiations;
4. Stresses that the cessation of all Israeli settlement activities is essential for salvaging the two-State solution, and calls for affirmative steps to be taken immediately to reverse the negative trends on the ground that are imperilling the two-State solution;
5. Calls upon all States, bearing in mind paragraph 1 of this resolution, to distinguish, in their relevant dealings, between the territory of the State of Israel and the territories occupied since 1967;
6. Calls for immediate steps to prevent all acts of violence against civilians, including acts of terror, as well as all acts of provocation and destruction, calls for accountability in this regard, and calls for compliance with obligations under international law for the strengthening of ongoing efforts to combat terrorism, including through existing security coordination, and to clearly condemn all acts of terrorism;
7. Calls upon both parties to act on the basis of international law, including international humanitarian law, and their previous agreements and obligations, to observe calm and restraint, and to refrain from provocative actions, incitement and inflammatory rhetoric, with the aim, inter alia, of de-escalating the situation on the ground, rebuilding trust and confidence, demonstrating through policies and actions a genuine commitment to the two-State solution, and creating the conditions necessary for promoting peace;
8. Calls upon all parties to continue, in the interest of the promotion of peace and security, to exert collective efforts to launch credible negotiations on all final status issues in the Middle East peace process and within the time frame specified by the Quartet in its statement of 21 September 2010;
9. Urges in this regard the intensification and acceleration of international and regional diplomatic efforts and support aimed at achieving, without delay a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East on the basis of the relevant United Nations resolutions, the Madrid terms of reference, including the principle of land for peace, the Arab Peace Initiative and the Quartet Roadmap and an end to the Israeli occupation that began in 1967; and underscores in this regard the importance of the ongoing efforts to advance the Arab Peace Initiative, the initiative of France for the convening of an international peace conference, the recent efforts of the Quartet, as well as the efforts of Egypt and the Russian Federation;
10. Confirms its determination to support the parties throughout the negotiations and in the implementation of an agreement;
11. Reaffirms its determination to examine practical ways and means to secure the full implementation of its relevant resolutions;
12. Requests the Secretary-General to report to the Council every three months on the implementation of the provisions of the present resolution;
13. Decides to remain seized of the matter.