UAE Cancels UN Vote on Israel’s Settlements
Yaniv Kubovich Jonathan Lis and Reuters
Feb 19, 2023 8:05 pm - Haaretz.com
▻https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-02-19/ty-article/uae-cancels-un-vote-on-israels-settlements/00000186-6ad5-df0a-abdf-7bdf59220000
The United Arab Emirates told the UN Security Council that it will not call a vote on Monday on a draft resolution demanding Israel “immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory,” according to a note seen by Reuters.
“Given the positive talks between the parties, we are now working on a draft PRST [presidential statement] which would garner consensus,” the note, send on Sunday, said. “Accordingly, there will not be a vote on the draft resolution on Monday. Much of the language of the PRST will be drawn from the draft resolution.”
The text of the resolution “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.”
The Emirates’ announcement is a significant achievement for the Biden administration, which has exerted heavy pressure on the Palestinian Authority and Israel in recent days with the aim of reaching an understanding that would lower the flames and set forth calm on a number of fronts, for fear of escalation ahead of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan.
The contacts included a promise by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas not to turn to the United Nations, and in return Israel would freeze the plans it had announced.
Sources familiar with the details say that as part of the agreement, the Israeli military would not enter West Bank cities under Palestinian control except in cases of a so-called ticking time bomb ahead of a terror attack.
Abbas believes that the ongoing raids by the Israel Defense Forces in the West Bank, which have led to the arrest of junior activists and minors, have been conducted to satisfy the new right-wing government as well as the Israeli public.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government authorized nine Jewish settler outposts in the occupied West Bank on Sunday and announced mass construction of new homes in established settlements, prompting U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to say he was “deeply troubled.”
Blinken spoke with Netanyahu early on Sunday, and told him that the U.S. is against any unilateral measures that could lead to an escalation in the region.
Senior American officials, including Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf, conveyed to political and security officials in Israel that the U.S. would have difficulty exercising its veto power at the UN on a number of issues. They specifically mentioned issues connected to the Palestinians, at a time when Israel is promoting unilateral measures in the West Bank.
Top Israeli officials briefed on the content of the talks say the Americans made it clear that the Israeli government’s intention to build thousands of housing units in the settlements and to legalize a number of outposts would make it difficult for the Americans to veto any resolution due to international pressure.
In December 2016 the Security Council demanded Israel stop building in the settlements. It adopted that resolution after U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration abstained from voting on it, a reversal of its practice to protect Israel from UN action.