UN Security Council issues anti-Israel statement, says settlements impede peace
The United Nations Security Council has condemned Israeli plans to expand illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, warning that such action would "prevent peace" and the so-called two-state solution. The 15-member council issued a formal statement on Monday, expressing its "dismay" at plans by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's hard-line cabinet to legalize settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. "The Security Council reiterates that continued Israeli settlement activities seriously jeopardize the viability of the two-state solution based on the 1967 borders," said Vanessa Frazier, Malta's Permanent Representative to the United Nations.
"The Security Council expresses deep concern and dismay at Israel's announcement on February 12," Frazier added, referring to the date Netanyahu's extremist cabinet approved the establishment of nine settler outposts in the occupied West Bank. Following the Council statement, the US representative to the world organization was also forced to oppose the Israeli settlement plans and the February 12 announcement of the occupation regime. “These unilateral measures are increasing tensions. They damage the trust between the parties. They undermine the prospects for a negotiated two-state solution. The United States does not fully support these measures," said US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield.
The UN Security Council statement, supported by all 15 members, does not have the binding force of a resolution considered last week that called on the Israeli regime to "immediately and completely" halt its settlement expansion activities in the occupied Palestinian territories. The draft condemned "all Israeli settlement activities and all other unilateral measures aimed at changing the demographic composition, character and status of the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967", including East al-Quds. These include, among other things, "the construction and expansion of settlements, transfers of Israeli settlers, confiscation of land, demolition of houses and displacement of Palestinian civilians".
The resolution also affirmed that Israel's establishment of settlements in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, including East al-Quds, "has no legal validity and constitutes a flagrant violation of international law." The last time the Security Council passed a resolution targeting Israel over its illegal settlement activities was in December 2016. Fourteen of the body's 15 members backed the measure, while the US, under then-President Barack Obama, chose to abstain . Tel Aviv has stepped up its efforts to expand illegal settlements since late December, when Netanyahu resumed power as the regime's prime minister, heading a cabinet made up of far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties.
On Jan. 25, Israeli sources said Netanyahu's cabinet plans to increase the number of settler units by a whopping 18,000 in the coming months. More than 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements built since Israel's occupation of the West Bank and East al-Quds in 1967.The international community considers the settlements - hundreds of which have been built across the West Bank since Tel Aviv occupied the territory in 1967 - to be illegal under international law and the Geneva Conventions because of their construction in the occupied territories.
