Trump Urges Obama to Veto U.N. Resolution on Israeli Settlements

[still_one]

Source: NY Times

"UNITED NATIONS President-elect Donald J. Trump publicly pressured President Obama on Thursday to veto a United Nations resolution critical of Israel, the newly elected leaders most direct intervention in foreign policy during his transition to power.

Mr. Trump called on the president to use the United States veto in the United Nations Security Council to block the Arab-sponsored resolution, which condemned the construction and expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. The Obama administration, which vetoed a similar resolution in 2011, had withheld judgment over the latest measure.

With the United States position publicly in doubt, the resolution was pulled by its sponsor, Egypt, on Thursday morning, hours before the council was scheduled to vote, and it was unclear when or even if it would be brought back up. But Mr. Trumps forceful insertion into the matter reflected an unusual public split between incoming and departing presidents and highlighted the stark shift on Middle East policy ahead when the new administration takes over in a month.

Mr. Obama, frustrated by two failed efforts to broker peace between Israelis and Palestinians during his tenure, has been considering an effort to lay out an American framework during his final days in office. Palestinian leaders and their allies had hoped he would allow the anti-settlement resolution at the United Nations to pass as an expression of frustration at Israeli policies he considers unconstructive."



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/22/world/middleeast/donald-trump-united-nations-israel-settlements.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news

[niyad]

1. hey, drumpfy, you are not in charge yet, so STFU.

[bdamomma]

4. god help us all when he is..............

tRump needs to be taken down a few notches.

[forgotmylogin]

2. God these people

They took away a Supreme Court pick, now they think he's their puppet.

Obama is no one's puppet.

[oberliner]

3. U.N vote on Israeli settlement postponed, 'potentially indefinitely': source

A United Nations Security Council vote on a draft resolution demanding an end to Israeli settlements has been postponed, "potentially indefinitely", a western diplomatic source said on Thursday.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-palestinians-un-postponed-idUSKBN14B1UR

[DK504]

5. Here we go

with the anti-Palestinian ranks again. Thanks for bringing us back 30 years Gropenfuehur.

[MFM008]

6. I expect another

Israeli " clean up" operation in the dwindling Palestinian areas in spring or summer with full approval by maggot.

[Mosby]

9. do you think the Israelis are monsters or something?

It's the Palestinians and Arab states that are preventing a permanent solution, the Israelis are just bystanders at this point.

[tritsofme]

7. President Obama doesn't need to be told by Trump to veto nonsense anti-Israel resolutions at the UN

He's been doing it for 8 years!

[Matilda]

10. I don't recall past presidents-elect being so vocal.

Have I just been unaware, or is Trump jumping the gun?

[still_one]

11. Different version of this story have now come out, mostly referencing "unnamed officials"

Makes one wonder what games are getting played:

There have been several versions of the story regarding the UN vote on settlements
and the media has been more than willing to accommodate the various versions. I suspect the media is being manipulated to spread disinformation along with bits and pieces of facts interspersed between. The majority of these stores always referenced "unnamed officials".

"Trump May Have Thwarted Obama’s Final Move On The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict With One Phone Call

"WASHINGTON ― A Thursday phone call between President-elect Donald Trump and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi may have undermined the Obama administration’s final effort to speak out against Israeli settlement building in the occupied Palestinian territories.

After months of negotiations, the United Nations Security Council was scheduled to vote at 3 p.m. Thursday on a resolution sponsored by Egypt to condemn Israeli settlements. The U.S., which typically blocks resolutions that are critical of Israel, had vetoed a similar measure in 2011.

But following years of growing frustration with Israeli settlement expansion, the U.S. was expected to abstain from the vote this time, which would have likely allowed the measure to pass. After the vote, Secretary of State John Kerry was prepared to deliver remarks about the Middle East peace process, State Department spokesman John Kirby said in a briefing on Thursday."

But none of that happened.

On Thursday morning, Trump slammed the draft resolution as “extremely unfair to all Israelis” and urged the U.S. to veto it. Hours later, Egypt postponed the vote indefinitely.

Initial media reports cited anonymous Western diplomats blaming pressure from the Israelis for Egypt’s sudden reversal. By Thursday evening, however, Reuters had confirmed from a Trump transition official that Trump and Sisi spoke by phone about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. CNN reported that the Israeli government privately asked Trump to intervene on their behalf.

From the start, the idea that Egypt would have reversed itself because of pressure from the Israelis didn’t pass muster among those who closely follow Middle East politics."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-obama-israeli-settlements-egypt_us_585c6f00e4b0eb586485eabc

[Guyechka]

12. I wish, wish, wish

we could have another Perez or Rabin. Netanyahu is a hawk who, I think at least, thrives on the conflict (remember a few years ago when he secretly approved some settlements in the West Bank like a month after he'd agreed to stop settlements and start closing some of them?). And they keep him in power because he "protects" them. Total B.S., and the Rump knows next to nothing about Arab/Israeli relations. He just has to have an opinion, even if it's completely uninformed (or worse, informed by Flynn).