AFP, JERUSALEM: Israel appealed to US President-elect Donald Trump for help in preventing a UN Security Council resolution against Israeli settlements since the Obama administration would not veto it, an official said Friday.“After becoming aware that the (US administration) would not veto the anti-Israel resolution, Israeli officials reached out to Trump’s transition team to ask for the president-elect’s help to avert the resolution,” an Israeli official said on condition of anonymity.
Egypt on Thursday requested that the vote be postponed, one day after submitting the draft text to the council, after Trump called President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, according to the Egyptian presidency.
Trump, who had campaigned on a promise to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, bluntly said Washington should use its veto to block the resolution.
“The resolution being considered at the United Nations Security Council regarding Israel should be vetoed,” he said in a statement. A similar resolution was vetoed by the United States in 2011.
President Barack Obama’s administration has expressed mounting anger over the continued expansion of the Jewish outposts and speculation has grown that he could launch a final initiative before leaving.
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 draft 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 imperilling the viability of the two-state solution” that would see an independent Palestinian state exist alongside Israel.
Another news from Cairo adds: Egypt said Friday it agreed to delay a vote on a UN Security Council resolution against Israeli settlements during a phone call between President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and US President-elect Donald Trump.
Egypt on Thursday requested that the vote be postponed a day after it submitted the draft text to the council, which prompted Israel to reach out to Trump to block a resolution.
Israel had asked Trump to intervene after learning that Washington, in a reversal of its policy under President Barack Obama, would not veto the resolution, an Israeli official said.
Trump, who issued a statement demanding that Washington exercise a veto, called Sisi. In a statement on Friday, the Egyptian presidency said the phone call “touched on the draft resolution... on Israeli settlements”. “The two leaders agreed on the importance of giving the new administration a chance to deal comprehensively with all the aspects of the Palestinian cause to achieve a comprehensive settlement,” it said.
The Egyptian turnaround surprised many but follows repeated expressions of admiration for Trump from Sisi, a former military chief who overthrew his Islamist predecessor in 2013 leading Obama to temporarily suspend military aid. Israel had launched a frantic lobbying effort to pressure Egypt to drop the bid and reached out to its supporters in the United States and at the Security Council for support.
“After becoming aware that the (US) would not veto the anti-Israel resolution, Israeli officials reached out to Trump’s transition team to ask for the president-elect’s help to avert the resolution,” an Israeli official said on condition of anonymity. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged Washington to block the draft, pointing to years of US willingness “to stand up in the UN and veto anti-Israel resolutions.”
Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon described the draft as “disgraceful” and said his government was deploying “diplomatic efforts on all fronts.”
Trump’s intervention and the Egyptian decision to postpone the vote appeared to have caught Washington offguard, with US Secretary of State John Kerry cancelling plans for a speech laying out a vision for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.