Just yesterday, the Security Council passed a resolution condemning Israeli settlements, demanding a complete end to settlement activity, and holding the settlements a violation of international law. For the first time, the US allowed such a resolution to pass – abstaining rather than vetoing the resolution as it always had in the past. The resolution’s passage was a huge slap in the face to Donald Trump’s overnight efforts, with Israel and Egypt, to seize control of Middle East diplomacy weeks before he is inaugurated as president.
In the days before the vote, word had spread that the Obama administration was considering abstaining, rather than vetoing the resolution. Israeli officials reacted with predictable fury, bringing intensive pressure on Egypt to withdraw its draft resolution. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu tweeted a late-night demand that the US veto the resolution. Trump responded with his own middle-of-the-night tweet, also insisting that the Obama administration veto the resolution. Trump – who was still, we should remember, a civilian with no governmental authority – then called Egyptian President Sisi, and held what Sisi’s spokesperson described as a wide-ranging discussion on Middle East issues, including the settlement resolution. In response to that call, Egypt announced it was withdrawing its own draft, with officials acknowledging that the goal was to provide the incoming Trump administration free rein to determine its own Middle East policy.
At that point four Council members (Malaysia, Senegal, Venezuela and New Zealand) decided to promote the Egyptian resolution without Cairo, and the discussion and vote were rescheduled for Friday afternoon. The vote was 14 in favor with one – Washington’s – abstention.
There are three important considerations regarding this vote. One, the resolution means the Obama administration is tacitly acknowledging the inadequacy of its earlier policy that claimed rhetorically to condemn settlements, but in fact vetoed any resolution that might actually have an impact on Israel’s settlement violations. (The US vetoed a similar Security Council resolution in 2011.) Despite UN Ambassador Samantha Power’s post-vote speech decrying how Israel is allegedly treated differently than every other country at the United Nations, the US position speaks volumes about the stark reality of Israeli violations. It is a huge contribution to Obama’s legacy on the Middle East.
The resolution is also important because of its operative language – far stronger than most earlier Council drafts even attempted. It condemns the very establishment of the settlements in the 1967 occupied Palestinian territory as having “no legal validity” and constituting “a flagrant violation under international law,” while demanding that Israel “immediately and completely cease all settlement activities.” In language clearly aimed at Israeli efforts to derail growing European prohibitions on allowing settlement-produced goods into the European Union, it calls on all countries “to distinguish…between the territory of the State of Israel and the territories occupied since 1967.” In its introduction it condemns “all measures aimed at altering the demographic composition” of the occupied territory, including “the construction and expansion of settlements, transfer of Israeli settlers, confiscation of land, demolition of homes and displacement of Palestinian civilians.” (There is also a condemnation of efforts to change the “status” of the occupied territory, which Israel could conceivably claim refers to efforts to build international recognition of Palestine as a “state,” but the framework clearly implies condemnation of the actions of the occupying power, not the occupied population.)
And third, the process throws into even starker relief the threat posed by Trump’s off-the-cuff pro-Israel actions, far more extreme than those of even the most pro-Israeli administrations in US history – especially when those actions are tied to his assertion of unbridled power even before being sworn in. Trump is still a private citizen; it remains an open question – that should be immediately investigated by the US Justice Department – whether his direct engagement with the Egyptian president violates the Logan Act’s prohibition of any non-authorized US citizen negotiating US foreign policy with a foreign government.
The next four weeks – the last of President Obama’s term – will likely remain contentious as the Trump operation attempts to usurp more presidential power in the interest of Trump’s extremist agenda. Once he comes into power, Palestinian rights will likely be among the first to be threatened. After the historic UN vote, the Israeli ambassador called Friday “A bad day for this Council.” He was wrong. This was one of the Council’s best days in a while. We should savor it – without a lot of work, we’re not likely to see too many more days like this any time soon.
Bennis first posted these comments on her Facebook page.
“Trump is still a private citizen; it remains an open question – that should be immediately investigated by the US Justice Department – whether his direct engagement with the Egyptian president violates the Logan Act’s prohibition of any non-authorized US citizen negotiating US foreign policy with a foreign government. ”
Thanks very much for pointing this out. It’s surreal to witness this transition. It’s an enduring shame that’s gonna leave a mark.
(Then there’s his other myriad conflicts of interest…)
“This was one of the Council’s best days in a while. We should savor it – without a lot of work, we’re not likely to see too many more days like this any time soon.”
The world spoke yesterday. The US finally got out of the way. I’m delighted and ready for “a lot of work”!
There is also a fourth and very important consideration at play here. That is that President Obama finally (albeit very late in the game) took a leap of faith in favor of justice and woke up this morning to near unanimous support from the American people!
Outside of some very loud complaints from a few very influential Israeli special interest groups and an extremely tiny Zionist block of ring-wing American Jews, the sky hasn’t fallen and the overwhelming majority of Americans aren’t rioting in the streets. In fact, it seems quite the opposite and they are glad that American interests and International Law is finally being placed ahead of Israel’s personal, racist and greedy interests.
Now if only the rest of Washington, Congress especially, could open their eyes and see that their voters will gladly back them on this as long as they are willing to ween themselves off of the money and influence being dangled in front of them by this rogue foreign entity.
“Just yesterday, the Security Council passed a resolution condemning Israeli settlements, demanding a complete end to settlement activity, and holding the settlements a violation of international law. For the first time, the US allowed such a resolution to pass – abstaining rather than vetoing the resolution as it always had in the past. ”
Why does everybody keeps saying that at the moment? The US allready abstained in 1980: Sec Res 446, 452, 465, 471 and 476 regarding the settlements and their violation of the Geneva Conventions. Sec Res 465 even demanded to dismantle allready existing settlements.
In a huge coincidence, next year Obama will receive a few hundred million for his leadership center from Qatar, the Saudis, etc. Still more surprisingly, his wife and daughters will also work there, of course all in the interest of the next generation of leaders.
It’s a wonderful thing when international law, justice for the oppressed (some of them) and one’s own business interests all align.
There is a budding hedge fund manager in one of DC’s private school, well two of them, who in a few short years will marry some president’s daughters.
It’s all so mysterious, how things work out. But of course, I forgot. I can’t understand such big moral things.
Herr Yahoo must be longing for the good old days coming back soon when Trump becomes his latest puppet:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrtuBas3Ipw
I do hope that Donald appreciates the role.