GCIS/MSS INTELLIGENCE BRIEFING: US vetoes anti-settlement resolution

ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center

SOURCE: Earth Times

19February2011 11:38amEST

GCIS/MSS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE: New York – The United States on Friday vetoed a resolution that received 14 votes in favour from the UN Security Council's 15 members, effectively killing the demand by Arab and Muslim countries to brand Israeli settlements "illegal."

US Ambassador Susan Rice cast a negative vote, which constituted a veto. The five permanent members with veto power are the United States, Russia, France, Britain and China.

Rice said the veto should not be understood as US support of Israeli settlements.

"We reject in the strongest terms the lack of legitimacy of Israeli settlements," she said after raising her hand to vote against the draft resolution.

A negative vote by one of the permanent members constitutes a veto.

The draft, which was supported by 130 countries including Europeans, had called for the Security Council to declare that "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." (read full report)

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