The U.N. Security Council criticized Monday the Israeli authorities’s plans to retroactively legalize settlements in occupied Palestinian lands would “impede peace” within the area.
The Security Council additionally expressed its “dismay” over the plans taken up by the nation’s newly elected hard-right authorities, led by Benjamin Netanyahu.
“The Security Council reiterates that continuing Israeli settlement activities are dangerously imperiling the viability of the two-State solution,” the Council mentioned in an announcement supported by all 15 members however which doesn’t have the binding drive of a decision thought-about final week.
Israel was fast to hit again on the declaration, with the workplace of Prime Minister Netanyahu saying it denied the “historic” rights of the Jewish folks.
“The U.N. Security Council has issued a one-sided statement which denies the rights of Jews to live in our historic homeland,” Netanyahu’s workplace mentioned in an announcement.
The U.N. assertion “fails to mention the Palestinian terror attacks” wherein Israelis had been killed in current weeks, it added, saying it “should never have been made and the United States should never have joined it.”
The earlier draft decision, proposed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), had referred to as on Israel to “immediately and completely cease” settlement actions in occupied Palestinian areas.
Diplomatic sources instructed the Agence France-Presse (AFP) Monday that the draft, condemning “all attempts at annexation, including decisions and measures by Israel regarding settlements, including settlement outposts” had been dropped and would get replaced by the brand new assertion issued by the president of the Security Council.
The draft decision had additionally reiterated the demand “that Israel immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem.”
The initiative provoked opposition from the United States, which has the proper to veto within the Council.
The White House mentioned it was “deeply dismayed” by the plans.
Washington had on the similar time denounced the announcement a number of days earlier by the Israeli safety cupboard of the legalization of 9 settlements within the occupied West Bank.
The new assertion on Monday mentioned the Council “strongly opposes all unilateral measures that impede peace, including, inter alia, Israeli construction and expansion of settlements, confiscation of Palestinians’ land, and the ‘legalization’ of settlement outposts, demolition of Palestinians’ homes and displacement of Palestinian civilians.”
Asked if the brand new declaration was a disappointment, the Palestinian envoy to the U.N., Riyad Mansour, pressured the truth that it was a unanimous stance by the Security Council.
“We have a united front,” he mentioned. “To isolate one side is a step in the right direction. We are fast approaching a breaking point that no one should care to explore.”
He mentioned the message wanted to be “translated into a time-bound action plan at a concerted effort by the U.N. and its member states to set us on a different path. One that leads to freedom, justice and peace.”
Source: www.dailysabah.com
