Voting to condemn Israel Dec.23 for building settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, U.S. Amb. Samantha Power on instruction from President Barack Obama abstained from the 14-member Security Council vote. U.N. states buy the Palestinian propaganda that the West Bank and East Jerusalem are sovereign Palestinian land for a future state. When Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon attacked Israel June 5, 1967 under direction of Palestine Liberation Organization founder Yasser Arafat, the Arab world was convinced they’d destroy the Jewish State. When the dust settled June 10, 1967, Israel destroyed the militaries of six Arab States, annexing Egypt’s Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula, Jordan’s East Jerusalem and West Bank and Syria’s Golan Heights. Palestinians enjoyed not one inch of sovereign territory before the Six Day War, claiming the territory years later.
Whatever the merits of a two-state solution, the Palestinian state can only come about from direct negotiations with Israel—not U.N. resolutions. Failing to veto the U.N. Security resolution, Obama showed his vindictiveness with Netanyahu, angry over the Israeli prime minister speaking to a joint session of Congress March 3, 2015 to oppose the Iran Nuke Deal. Punishing Israel by abstaining, exposes Israel to more boycotts, condemnations and possible rulings in the International Criminal Court in the Hague. President-elect Donald Trump responded quickly that things will be different for Israel once he takes office Jan. 20, 2017. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said if the Security Council doesn’t rescind the resolution, he would sponsor legislation to de-fund the U.S.$1.76 billion U.N. contribution in 2016. Whether that happens is anyone’s guess. Israeli building in the West Bank and East Jerusalem defies international law.
International law as defined by U.N. resolutions doesn’t recognize Israel’s borders beyond its 1948 boundaries. U.N. officials haven’t reconciled the 1949 Geneva Convention pertaining to land lost in armed conflicts, where the spoils go to the victor, especially when the victor, Israel, was not the warring party in 1967. Any legal tribunal adjudicating land claims under the Geneva Convention from armed conflict would have to reconcile Israel’s rights to spoils. But whatever the legal outcome, the land Israel seized in 1967 would return through negotiation to the sovereign owners, not the Palestinians. U.N. officials voting against Israel’s rights to build settlements on spoils of the 1967 War have no leg to stand on. Obama, who failed to negotiate two-state solution, knows that Palestinians are split between the PLO’s West Bank and East Jerusalem and Hamas’s Gaza Strip.
Hamas, for all intents and purposes, coordinates with the PLO, continues its war with Israel, not for a two-state solution but to destroy the Jewish State. PLO chief 81-year-old Mahmoud Abbas has no authority to negotiate a two-state solution, making peace with Israel impossible. Obama knows settlement-building is not the obstacle to a two-state solution: It’s that Israel has no peace partner. Obama’s abstention violates the joint security act with Israel providing seamless military coordiation with the United States. Allowing the U.N. mob to gang up on Israel hurts U.S. national security by emboldening Israel’s enemies to take legal, economic and other means to harm the Jewish State. According to our information, we have no doubt the Obama administration initiated it [the resolution], stood behind it, coordinated the wording and demanded it be passed,” said Netanyahu.
Knowing Israel’s close security ties to the U.S, Republicans in Congress were furious with Obama, compromising Israel’s national security. Obama has never understood U.S. national security in a post-Sept. 11 world, where the fight against global terror requires strong alliances to prevail. Pentagon officials rely heavily on Israel to prosecute the war on terror, knowing Israel and the U.S. have each other’s back. “Over the decades American administrations and Israeli governments disagreed about settlements, but we agreed the Security Council was not the place to resolve the issue,” said Netanyahu, drawing attention to Obama’s breach. Only former President George W. Bush understood that the U.S. could no longer negotiate with terrorist states or groups regardless of their excuses for violence. Obama regressed in his terror policy to a pre-Sept. 11 mindset.
Lashing out at Israel less than a month before leaving office, Obama looks ahead to potential business relationships with Saudi Arabia, Gulf States and other Asian and African nations. Seeking millions in cash to help fund his ambitions $2 billion presidential library, hitting Israel gives Obama cover to rich Arab states looking to lash out at Israel. White House officials know that Israel views settlement building as a legitimate point of discussion in future talks on a two-state solution. With Hamas calling the shots in the West Bank, Israel has no partner for a two-state solution Getting New Zealand , Senegal, Venezuela and Malaysia to move for a vote on the resolution, the U.S. allowed the mob mentality on the Security/ Council. Obama’s looking to cash donations to his presidential library, not whether there’s a two-state solution between Israel and Palestinians.
