Photo Credit: Screenshot / GPO / PMO
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

The United Nations Security Council vote on a draft resolution calling for an end to Jewish construction in all areas desired by the Palestinian Authority for its hoped-for state – and in fact, calling for an end to all Jewish communities in those areas – has been postponed.

According to a Western diplomatic source quoted Thursday by Reuters, the vote was postponed “potentially indefinitely” in response to a request by Egyptian President Abdel el-Sisi. The original draft text of the resolution was circulated by Egypt on Wednesday evening, with the vote by the 15-member Council set for 3 pm ET Thursday.

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The text of that resolution demanded that Israel “immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem… “ It said the establishment of settlements by Israel has “no legal validity and constitutes a flagrant violation under international law…. [and] are dangerously imperiling the viability of a two-state solution.”

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a statement on the PMO website and in a video, appealing to the Obama administration not to allow the resolution to pass.

“Israelis deeply appreciate one of the great pillars of the US-Israel alliance: the willingness over many years of the US to stand up in the UN and veto anti-Israel resolutions,” Netanyahu said.

“I hope the US won’t abandon this policy; I hope it will abide by the principles set by President Obama himself in his speech in the UN in 2011: That peace will come not through UN resolutions, but only through direct negotiations between the parties.

“And that’s why this proposed resolution is bad. It’s bad for Israel; it’s bad for the United States; and it’s bad for peace”.


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Hana Levi Julian is a Middle East news analyst with a degree in Mass Communication and Journalism from Southern Connecticut State University. A past columnist with The Jewish Press and senior editor at Arutz 7, Ms. Julian has written for Babble.com, Chabad.org and other media outlets, in addition to her years working in broadcast journalism.