Security Council Vote on Illegal Israeli Settlements Postponed

by Stephen Lendman

Scheduled for early afternoon on December 22, Egypt, its originator, asked for a postponement, perhaps indefinitely.

It acted following heavy-handed Netanyahu and Trump pressure. The Israeli prime minister urged a US veto. Trump tweeted "(t)he resolution being considered at the United Nations Security Council regarding Israel should be vetoed" - followed by a Facebook statement, adding:

"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. This puts Israel in a very poor negotiating position and is extremely unfair to all Israelis."

Responding to Trump on Facebook, I said (a)re you saying it's OK for Israel to violate international law, steal Palestinian land, develop it for exclusive Jewish use, dispossess families from what's rightfully theirs, while arresting, imprisoning and brutalizing justifiable resisters? Is that OK with you? Not with me, a Jew supporting Palestinian rights.

A same-day article discussed what's in the resolution. Under international law, all Israeli settlements are illegal. No nation may transfer parts of its civilian population to territory it occupies. Palestinian land belongs to Palestinians, not Israel.

A senior Netanyahu official said failure of Washington to veto the resolution if and when it's brought to a vote would breach its longstanding commitment to the Jewish state.

So-called commitments violating fundamental international law have no legal, moral, or ethical standing.

It's unclear what's planned for the resolution now. If delayed until after Trump's inauguration, vetoing it is certain - along with any other Security Council measure supporting long denied Palestinian rights.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. 

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com. 

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