(Politico) Ben Smith - The New York Times reported Friday that U.S. envoy George "Mitchell's deputy, David Hale, indicated to the Palestinians that if Israel proceeded with the construction of 1,600 housing units in Jerusalem's ultra-orthodox neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo, the United States would abstain from, rather than veto, a resolution in the United Nations Security Council condemning the move." The U.S. posture seems to be that they'd abstain from a resolution attacking a specific Israeli move, but continue to veto broader censure of Israel. That would still be a major shift. The traditional U.S. posture isn't that the U.S. vetoes anti-Israel resolutions because they're specifically incorrect, but on the grounds that the UN is broadly unfair and overly focused on Israel.
2010-05-03 07:49:49Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive