Egypt circulated a draft resolution to the UN Security Council last night that demands an immediate halt to Israel’s settlement building policy on lands the international community does not recognize as part of the Jewish state, and views as territory that will be part of a future Palestinian state. The resolution declares that existing settlements “have no legal validity” and are “a flagrant violation” of international law, while stressing that “the cessation of all Israeli settlement activities is essential for the implementation of the internationally aspired two state solution, with Palestinians and Israelis living side by side in peace and security.
The United Nations Security Council is scheduled to meet and vote on the draft resolution at 10 o’clock tonight. In response to the anticipated vote, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged the United States to veto the draft resolution, referring to it as an anti-Israel resolution. The United States cast a veto some five years ago, the only one during President Obama’s tenure, on a similar draft resolution. That said, diplomatic sources at the UN Security Council said that they did not know how Washington would vote this time.