The United States planned to veto the United Nations Security Council resolution against settlements and as a result, the Palestinian Authority pulled the text, Israel’s National Security Advisor Tzahi HaNegbi said on Monday.
“I think the Palestinians understood from the discussion with the administration that they are not going to gain anything from this effort because it will be vetoed,” HaNegbi said in a conversation with The Jerusalem Post’s Editor-in-Chief Yaakov Katz.
HaNegbi spoke at the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish-American Organizations hours before the UNSC is scheduled to hold its monthly meeting in New York on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The United Arab Emirates, which holds a rotating UNSC council seat, had been expected to push forward a resolution condemning Israeli settlement activity after Israel’s security cabinet authorized the transformation of ten West Bank outposts into nine new settlements.
The United States holds one of five permanent seats on the council and had the power to veto the resolution, but it had preferred to sway the PA not to push forward with the matter.
On Sunday at the PA’s request, the UAE pulled the text. The UNSC is now expected to issue a statement, with the US agreement.
PA tried to stop settlement building
The PA had tried to stop what it referred to as unilateral steps such as settlement building, HaNegbi explained, but then Israel noted that it also wanted the PA to back away from unilateral measures.
One of the unilateral steps Israel wanted to see halted was the PA pursuit of Israeli at the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice as two examples, he said.
He later clarified for The Jerusalem Post that in the end no deal had been reached to halt settlement activity and that the Higher Planning Council for Judea and Samaria would meet as scheduled on Wednesday to advance plans for new homes in those communities.