Days before leaving office, President
Barack Obama could not resist the temptation of giving a deadly farewell gift
to Israel in the form of UN Security Council Resolution on the settlements in
the occupied territories. The US decision to abstain rather than veto it,
facilitated the adoption of Resolution 2334 supported by the other 14 members
of the Council. It is not clear if the Obama administration coordinated this
drastic move with the transition team of President-elect Donald Trump.
In terms of its content, there is nothing
new and the resolution reiterates the widely known international as well as
American positions on the legal status of the territories that Israel had
captured during the June 1967 War as well as the parameters of a solution
suggested by Security Council Resolution 242 adopted in November that year.
Indeed, since the days of President Lyndon Johnson no US administration had
accepted let alone recognised the Israeli claims and activities beyond the 4
June 1967 lines.
Obama???s refusal to veto the resolution
endorses and legitimises the wider international position on the application of
the Fourth Geneva C
