Israeli officials allegedly pressured Egyptians who drafted resolution to suspend vote amid amid reports that Obama was going to abstain

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

The UN security council has postponed a contentious vote on a resolution that would have demanded Israel halt all settlement activities as a “flagrant violation” of international law.

The plan to call a vote – announced abruptly on Wednesday evening by Egypt, which had been drafting the resolution – was postponed indefinitely a few hours ahead of the planned security council meeting on Thursday afternoon.

Israeli occupants of illegal West Bank outpost agree to relocate Read more

Several diplomats and western officials said the Egyptians had been pressured to postpone the vote by the Israelis.

Egypt, the first Arab country to make peace with Israel, was said to be meeting with Arab League diplomats to review the text.

Diplomats added that there was no time frame for when the vote may now take place with some suggesting it could be put off “indefinitely”.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Settlements on the West Bank, such as Amona, are generally seen as illegal. Photograph: Xinhua/REX/Shutterstock

The issue of a planned resolution, which has been in the drafting process for several weeks along with a second draft resolution sponsored by New Zealand, had drawn considerable attention amid speculation over whether President Obama might change US policy and not deploy its veto. Late on Thursday Reuters reported that the Obama administration had intended to abstain on the vote, citing “western officials”.

Speculation that the US might not deploy its veto had been fuelled by US administration frustration over recent political moves by the rightwing coalition of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, not least over proposed and highly controversial legislation that would retroactively legalise some 100 outposts built on private Palestinian land.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A construction site that is part of the Israeli settlement of Beitar Illit, in the occupied West Bank. Photograph: Baz Ratner/Reuters

The announcement of the vote, however, had prompted immediate calls from Netanyahu for the US to use its veto power at the security council to block the resolution in a late-night tweet.

On Thursday Netanyahu returned to the fray publicly urging the US to veto the resolution, calling it bad for peace. “Peace will come not through UN resolutions, but only through direct negotiations between the parties,” he said.

Moving US embassy to Jerusalem could provoke violent 'chaos', experts warn Read more

The move also prompted the intervention of US president-elect Donald Trump, who campaigned on a promise to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and said in a statement that Washington should use its veto to block the resolution.

“The resolution being considered at the United Nations security council regarding Israel should be vetoed,” the Republican said in a statement. “As the United States has long maintained, peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians will only come through direct negotiations between the parties, and not through the imposition of terms by the United Nations,” he said.

“This puts Israel in a very poor negotiating position and is extremely unfair to all Israelis,” Trump added.

Israeli settlements have long been seen as major stumbling block to peace efforts as they are built on land the Palestinians see as part of their future state.

The UN maintains that settlements are illegal, but UN officials have reported a surge in construction over the past months.

Trump presidency bodes ill for Israel-Palestine peace process Read more

Some in the Israeli government view Trump’s victory as an opportunity to expand settlements in the West Bank, Palestinian land occupied by Israel for nearly 50 years.

The Egyptian draft has also emerged amid a period of profound uncertainty over the moribund Israel-Palestine peace process largely fuelled by fears over what Trump’s Middle East policy might be.

Last week Trump nominated as his ambassador to Israel the hardliner David Friedman, a man who has said Washington will not pressure Israel to curtail settlement building in the occupied West Bank.

Another key influence on Trump is said to be his son-in-law Jared Kushner whose family charity has donated money to one of the occupied West Bank’s most hardline settlements.

The draft resolution – in its latest form - demands that: “Israel immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem” adding settlements have “no legal validity” and are “dangerously imperilling the viability of the two-state solution” that would see an independent state of Palestine co-exist alongside Israel.