The United States abstained from the vote in a rare move, with the resolution passing 14-0. The vote angered the prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, and sparked a rebuke from President-elect Donald Trump on Twitter.
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The Obama administration’s second assumption is that pressure from the global community or from the United States will bring about this supposedly desirable settlement freeze. After being asked what the Bible has to say about the land dispute between Israel and Palestine, both guest said the USA was not in a good place. It supposedly does this by easing Palestinian suspicions that Israel either won’t make major territorial concessions at the negotiating table, or won’t implement these concessions once made.
Senator Bill Nelson of Florida, who is facing re-election in 2018, said he knew why Mr. Kerry was frustrated over the settlements, which he called an “impediment toward a negotiated two-state solution”.
During that more than 70-minute address, Kerry said that the United States couldn’t “in good conscience” have vetoed the measure.
“We’re talking about two competing nationalist movements”, Zunes tells Teen Vogue. It was the Arabs’ refusal to accept the establishment of any Jewish state in the territories that began what has now been a almost 70-year stalemate on the creation of a Palestinian state.
“The United States did in fact vote in accordance with our values, just as previous administrations have done”, Kerry said in a farewell speech at the State Department.
On Tuesday, the Egyptian newspaper Youm7 reported that Kerry and U.S. National Security Adviser Susan Rice met with Palestinian officials in mid-December and agreed to cooperate on the United Nations resolution, asking that the discussions be kept secret.
His remarks came five days after America declined to block a UN Security Council resolution censuring Israel, reaffirming the view that the establishment of settlements in the occupied territories “has no legal validity and constitutes a flagrant violation under worldwide law and a major obstacle to the achievement of the two-State solution and a just, lasting and comprehensive peace”.
“For over an hour, Kerry obsessively dealt with settlements and barely touched upon the root of the conflict – Palestinian opposition to a Jewish state in any boundaries”. “As long as the settlements continue to expand, the prospects of establishing a Palestinian state will shrink over time”, Dr. Ben-Muir said.
“But here is a fundamental reality: if the choice is one state, Israel can either be Jewish or democratic — it cannot be both –and it won’t ever really be at peace”.
Trump wouldn’t say whether settlements should be reined in.
During the Reagan administration, 21 Security Council resolutions critical of Israeli government actions passed.
Kerry added: “The settler agenda is defining the future in Israel”.
How Does Obama Feel About That?
Moran also expressed hope that the incoming Trump administration will take a different approach.
The speech criticized the nuclear deal the Obama administration and leaders of other nations were about to sign with Iran.
“In a speech ostensibly about peace between Israel and Palestinians, Secretary Kerry paid lip service to the unremitting campaign of terrorism that has been waged by the Palestinians against the Jewish State for almost a century”.
He also pointed out that the Israeli government recently approved the construction of a new settlement well east of the separation barrier dividing Israel and the West Bank – one that will be closer to Jordan than Israel.
Kerry sternly warned that Israel was on a course leading to a “perpetual occupation” of Palestinian-owned land.
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“Trump’s policies are not just bad for the Palestinians, but I would argue ultimately bad for Israel as well because those of us who do care about Israel would hate to see them in that dilemma”, Zunes says. “While you and your predecessors sought a sustainable peace agreement, Israel continued to expand old and build new settlements over the Green Line creating ongoing obstacles to peace”. From U.N. protection to economic and military support, these Republican presidents were far more willing to use American leverage to force a change to Israel’s behavior than Obama was.
