Trump says UN anti-settlement resolution should be vetoed

Marcy Oster

(JTA) — President-elect Donald Trump said a resolution introduced at the United Nations Security Council against Israeli settlements should be vetoed.

“As the United States has long maintained, peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians will only come through direct negotiations between the parties, and not through the imposition of terms by the United Nations,” an official statement issued by Trump on Thursday morning, hours after the resolution was introduced by Egypt on Wednesday afternoon.

“This puts Israel in a very poor negotiating position and is extremely unfair to all Israelis,” the Trump statement concluded.

The resolution against Israeli settlements in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem is scheduled for a vote on Thursday afternoon.

The introduction of the resolution reportedly caught Israel by surprise, though a resolution had been expected before the end of U.S. President Barack Obama’s term on Jan. 20.

The resolution states that the settlements “in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967” are a violation of international law and demands that Israel “completely cease all settlement activities,” which it calls essential for keeping open the option of a two-state solution. The resolution also calls upon all countries to distinguish between Israel and the occupied territories in their dealings with them and “for immediate steps to prevent all acts of violence against civilians, including acts of terror, as well as all acts of provocation and destruction.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a tweet sent after 3 a.m. Israel time wrote that: “The US should veto the anti-Israel resolution at the UN Security Council on Thursday.” He cancelled a scheduled public appearance on Thursday afternoon in order to deal with the upcoming vote, according to reports.

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