Netanyahu working to prevent new anti-Israel resolution in Obama’s final days

Prime Minister Netanyahu said that Israel is working vigorously to block another anti-Israel UNSC resolution, as fears mount that the Obama administration may again abstain in its final days.

Speaking to Israeli ambassadors in Jerusalem on Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the “signs” are pointing to the United Nations’ Security Council (UNSC) adopting another anti-Israel resolution, based on the understandings agreed upon ahead of the upcoming Paris regional conference later this month.

Israel fears that only days before leaving office, President Barack Obama will again abstain from a vote on an anti-Israel resolution at the UNSC, after not using the US veto power against a similar resolution last month. The so-called Paris understandings would provide the opportunity for an additional abstention.

“The Paris conference is an empty event, but signs indicate that decisions received there will become another Security Council resolution; that already is not empty. And there are quite a few such signs.”

“Therefore, our primary effort right now is to try and prevent another UN resolution, another UNSC vote, and to prevent a [international Middle East] Quartet resolution,” he stated.

France is scheduled to host an international summit for implementing a diplomatic solution between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) on January 15. Although 70 countries are expected to participate, Israel has refused to attend, saying that only direct talks between Israel and the PA can lead to real peace, and not an externally imposed solution.

The French diplomatic initiative entails indirect negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, at least at the beginning, with international arbitration, including a resolution to pressure Israel into concessions that Jerusalem believes could hinder its security.

Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected the French initiative, saying that such moves allow the Palestinians to avoid direct negotiations, thereby making peace more remote.

It would be “an incentive for the Palestinians to come and not compromise,” Netanyahu had warned.

France hosted an international meeting in Paris in June, attended by more than two dozen Western and Arab countries, in search of a new strategy for Mideast peace and to revive Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, which have been dead for over two years. The Israeli and Palestinian leaders were not invited to the conference, which ended with only vague statements.

By: Aryeh Savir, World Israel News

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