U.S. vetoes Israeli settlements U.N. resolution
Updated at 5:46 p.m. ET
UNITED NATIONS - The United States vetoed a U.N. resolution Friday that would have condemned "illegal" Israeli settlements and demanded an immediate halt to all settlement building, a move certain to anger Arab countries and Palestinian supporters around the world.
The 14 other Security Council members voted in favor of the resolution in Friday's vote, reflecting the wide support for the Palestinian-backed draft which had over 100 co-sponsors. The veto represented the U.S. government's first for a Security Council resolution since President Obama came into office, CBS News foreign affairs analyst Pamela Falk reports from the U.N.
The Palestinians insist they will not resume peace talks until Israel halts settlement building in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which they want as a capital. Israeli-Palestinian peace talks collapsed just weeks after they restarted in September because Israel ended a 10-month moratorium on settlement construction.
Explaining the U.S. veto, U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice said the overriding issue for the Obama administration was whether the resolution would lead to renewed peace negotiations.
"Unfortunately, this draft resolution risks hardening the positions of both sides," she said.
Rice said the United States did not want the veto to be "misunderstood" as support for continued Israeli settlement construction.
"We reject in the strongest terms the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlement activity," she said.
It was the 10th U.S. veto on a Mideast issue since 2001. The last U.S. veto in the Security Council was Nov. 11, 2006, on a resolution calling for an end to Israeli military operations and the immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip.
The vetoed resolution would have reaffirmed "that the Israeli settlements established in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, are illegal and constitute a major obstacle to the achievement of a just, lasting and comprehensive peace."
It would have reiterated previous council demands "that Israel, the occupying power, immediately and completely ceases all settlement activities..."
The Palestinians rejected U.S. efforts to substitute a weaker Security Council presidential statement for the legally binding resolution and decided to go ahead with a vote after Palestinian leaders meeting in Ramallah earlier Friday gave their unanimous approval. The weaker statement was widely criticized by both Democrats and Republicans in advance of the vote, Falk reports.
The call for a U.N. vote put President Obama in a difficult position, both internationally and domestically.
The U.S. veto of the resolution — which has about 130 co-sponsors — will likely anger Arab nations and much of the rest of the world at a time of growing street protests in the Mideast, fueled by hopes for democracy, which the Obama administration supports.
An abstention would anger the Israelis, the closest U.S. ally in the region, as well as Democratic and Republican supporters of Israel in the U.S. Congress.
In a U.S. attempt to find a compromise, Mr. Obama and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas spoke by telephone for 50 minutes on Thursday and Abbas spoke Friday to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Rice expressed regret that the U.S.-proposed presidential statement wasn't accepted as an alternative.
It would have reaffirmed that the Security Council "does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlement activity, which is a serious obstacle to the peace process." It also would have had the council condemn "all forms of violence, including rocket fire from Gaza" and stress the need for "calm and security" for Israelis and Palestinians.
Several countries took themselves off the list of co-sponsors of the final draft including Syria, which didn't think the resolution was strong enough, and Libya which wants a single state for Israelis and Palestinians.