UN draft law seeks stop to Israeli colonies

UNITED NATIONS (AP) – A Palestinian-backed United Nations resolution that might be voted on by the Security Council early next week would demand an immediate stop to all Israeli settlement operations, denounce Israeli efforts to annex settlements and outposts, and “ask for their rapid reversal.”

The State Department said in Washington that the resolution in its current form was “unhelpful,” but failed to indicate whether it would veto the text or attempt to soften it down to avoid a controversial vote.

Diplomats of the Council, commenting on the condition of anonymity because discussions were confidential, said that the U.S. was attempting to substitute the legally binding resolution with a weaker presidential statement.

The push for a vote on the draught resolution, of which The Associated Press obtained a copy on Thursday, comes as Israel’s new right-wing government has reaffirmed its commitment to construct new settlements in the West Bank and expand its authority in the lands the Palestinians seek for a future state.

In the 1967 Middle East War, Israel took the West Bank, along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. The United Nations and the majority of the international community see Israeli settlements as illegal and an impediment to the resolution of the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Around 700,000 Israeli settlers reside in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, which Israel has annexed.

The current Israeli administration is dominated by ultranationalists who reject Palestinian independence and has made settlement development a main priority. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has pledged to “normalise” life in the West Bank, thus annexing West Bank land and eliminating the distinction between living in a settlement and inside Israel’s internationally recognised borders.

The proposed resolution, sponsored by the United Arab Emirates, the council’s Arab representative, would reaffirm the Security Council’s “unwavering commitment” to a two-state solution in which Israel and Palestine coexist as democratic nations in peace.

It would also restate the United Nations Charter’s prohibition on gaining territory by force and the illegality of any such acquisition.

On Tuesday, senior ambassadors from the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Italy denounced Israel’s plans to construct 10,000 additional houses in West Bank settlements and retroactively recognise nine outposts. The Cabinet of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the step on Sunday, in response to an increase in violence in Jerusalem.

Vedant Patel, deputy spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State, told reporters in Washington on Thursday: “The introduction of this resolution is counterproductive to advancing the circumstances essential for discussions on a two-state solution.”

Patel also said that Israel’s recent move to expand settlements and legitimise previously unlawful settlement outposts was “unhelpful.”

According to U.S. officials, Secretary of State Antony Blinken made this point directly to Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during a trip to Israel and the West Bank earlier this month.

The Security Council requested in December 2016 that Israel “immediately and fully halt all settlement operations in occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem.” It emphasised that stopping settlement construction is “crucial” to preserving the two-state solution.

This resolution also denounced “any efforts to change the demographic makeup, character, and status of the occupied Palestinian land since 1967.”

The resolution was accepted when the administration of former U.S. President Barack Obama abstained, reversing the United States’ historical practise of shielding its close ally Israel from action at the United Nations, including by vetoing Arab-supported resolutions.

The proposed resolution before the council is far shorter than the resolution adopted in 2016, albeit it reiterates the essential issues and much of what the United States and European Union have stated.

In addition to its demands about settlements, the proposal asks for “preserving in word and deed the ancient status quo at Jerusalem’s sacred sites.”

In addition, Israel and the Palestinians are urged to follow international humanitarian law and their past accords, and to desist from provocative activities, provocation, inflammatory language, and hate speech.

The resolution’s proponents seek a vote on Monday, before the anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, which will be commemorated by three days of high-level festivities beginning on Wednesday at the United Nations.

The Security Council resolution was introduced and is supported by the United Arab Emirates, an Arab partner of the United States that has also normalised relations with Israel while taking a lukewarm stance on opposing Russia’s attack on Ukraine. This may complicate the situation for the United States.

The United States will rely on the United Arab Emirates and other council members sympathetic to the Palestinians to vote in favour of a United Nations General Assembly resolution condemning Russia for invading Ukraine and calling for an immediate cessation of hostilities and withdrawal of Russian forces later this week.