UN Security Council Urges End to Israeli Settlements
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - The UN Security Council has voted in favor 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 civilized language and negotiation and a total rejection of extremist forces in Israel," chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said, Al Jazeera reported.
"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.
The resolution was adopted with 14 votes in favor 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.
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 Al-Quds (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 favor of a US veto.