Egypt today pulled a resolution in the United Nations calling on Israel to "immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem" -- a measure President-elect Donald Trump said should be rejected.
While the Obama administration had yet to comment on the matter, Trump weighed in via social media before the resolution, before the Security Council, was tabled.
"As the United States has long maintained, peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians will only come through direct negotiations between the parties, and not through the imposition of terms by the United Nations," his statement on Facebook post said. "This puts Israel in a very poor negotiating position and is extremely unfair to all Israelis."
Trump's stance on the matter should come as no surprise. David Friedman, Trump's newly selected pick to serve as U.S. ambassador to Israel, opposes a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, actively supports Israeli settlements, advocates for Israel’s annexation of the West Bank and maintains that the occupied Palestinian Territories are not occupied.
He also believes, as Trump has restated, that the U.S. embassy should be moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, thus recognizing the disputed city as Israel's eternal capital. That move would represent a shift to long-standing U.S. policy which says that no state has sovereignty over Jerusalem and that moving the embassy there risks prejudging the outcome of final status negotiations.
The White House and State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the now tabled resolution or Trump's suggested veto, but the U.S. has long maintained that while not all settlements are illegal, they represent an impediment to the peace process.
from ABC News: Politics http://ift.tt/2hM9O1b
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