US vetoes UN resolution on Israel settlements

[Hyde]

US vetoes UN resolution on Israel settlements​

Updated at: 0228 PST, Saturday, February 19, 2011
UNITED NATIONS: The United States on Friday vetoed an Arab resolution before the UN Security Council condemning continued Israeli settlement building.

US ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice, said Washington had "regrettably" chosen to oppose the resolution, sponsored by some 130 countries and backed by the Palestinian leadership, after seeking to offer an alternative course which had been rejected.

"This draft resolution risks hardening the positions of both sides," Rice said. "It could encourage the parties to stay out of negotiations."

And she stressed Washington's veto -- the first by President Barack Obama's administration at the United Nations -- should not be taken as US support for settlement building.

"We reject in the strongest terms the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlement activity," she told the Council.

But she said the United Nations was not the correct place to try to resolve the decades-old Israel-Palestinian conflict.

"While we agree with our fellow council members and indeed with the wider world about the folly and illegitimacy of continued Israeli settlement activity, we think it unwise for this council to attempt to resolve the core issues that divide Israelis and Palestinians," she said.

 

[Tigershark]

And Americans wonder why they're so hated in the Middle East.

 

[CardSharp]

And Americans wonder why they're so hated in the Middle East.

Well that and they prop up unpopular dictators (some of them looks like they are in trouble though).

 

[cross1993]

Why USA govt is so fond of the veto?

 

[CardSharp]

Why USA govt is so fond of the veto?

Because it's the only way she can stop resolutions of condemnation against Israel.

 

[twoplustwoisfour]

Well that and they prop up unpopular dictators (some of them looks like they are in trouble though).

Didn't we have this discussion on which countries props up dictators before?

 

[Bang Galore]

This is simply the stupidest thing to do. If the rest of the UNSC wanted that to pass, the U.S. should not have stood in the way. If they didn't want to be seen as voting against Israel, they should have abstained though the way the present Israeli government has been behaving, a vote against would not have been out of place. America's continued support in the face of Israeli intransigence only serves to reinforce the view that the U.S. can never be seen as true friend of the Palestinians.

 

[Tigershark]

America's continued support in the face of Israeli intransigence only serves to reinforce the view that the U.S. can never be seen as true friend of the Palestinians.

That's the problem. The U.S. makes it clear it is the friend of Israel, and not of Palestine. Despite their claim to being an honest broker to the middle east peace process, the US delivers billions in military aid to Israel, in addition to providing its veto on the UNSC. That emboldens Israel to enlarge its settlements and kill Palestinians and claim more of their land. It is unconditional US support which has made Israel into the monster it is today.