The United Nations Security Council(UNSC) on Friday Dec 23,2016 has passed a resolution demanding an end to Israeli settlements after the US abstained despite Donald Trump's calls for a veto.
America's abstention paved the way for the 15-member council to approve the resolution, with 14 votes in favour, to a round of applause.
The Obama administration's action broke with the traditional American approach of shielding Israel, which is Washington's long-standing ally, from such action.
The United States, along with Russia, France, Britain and China, has veto power on the council.
The resolution, put forward by New Zealand, Malaysia, Venezuela and Senegal a day after Egypt withdrew it under pressure from the Israel and Trump, was the first adopted by the council on Israel and the Palestinians in nearly eight years
Israel and Trump had called on the Obama administration to veto the measure.
Trump wrote on Twitter after the vote, 'As to the U.N., things will be different after Jan. 20th,' referring to the day he succeeds the outgoing President Barack Obama.
Trump wrote on Twitter after the vote, 'As to the U.N., things will be different after Jan. 20th,' referring to the day he succeeds the outgoing President Barack Obama.
Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said, 'It is because this resolution reflects the facts on the ground and is consistent with U.S. policy across Republican and Democratic administrations ... that the United States did not veto it.'
'It is because this forum too often continues to be biased against Israel, because there are important issues that are not sufficiently addressed in this resolution and because the United States does not agree with every word in this text, that the United States did not vote in favor,' Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nation added.
The U.S. abstention was seen as a parting shot by Obama, who has had an acrimonious relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and who has made settlements a major target of peace efforts that have proven ultimately futile
The resolution demanded that Israel 'immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem' and said the establishment of settlements by Israel has 'no legal validity and constitutes a flagrant violation under international law.'
The Palestinians want an independent state in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, areas Israel captured in a 1967 war.
The U.N. action was 'a big blow to Israeli policy, a unanimous international condemnation of settlements and a strong support for the two-state solution,' a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said in a statement
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