UN / ISRAELI SETTLEMENTS

The Security Council adopted a resolution condemning Israeli settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem as a "flagrant violation" of international law. UNIFEED

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:03:10
• Production Date: 23 December 2016
• Asset Language: English; Spanish
• Personal Subject: RIYAD MANSOUR; SAMANTHA POWER
• Corporate Name: SECURITY COUNCIL
• Subject Topical: BORDER INCIDENTS; PEACE AND SECURITY; SETTLEMENT PLANNING
• Geographic Subject: ISRAEL; PALESTINE
• MAMS Id: 1804426
• Parent Id: 1804426
• Alternate Title: unifeed161223e

Description

STORY: UN / ISRAELI SETTLEMENTS
TRT: 02:
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ARABIC / ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 23 DECEMBER 2016, NEW YORK CITY

Shotlist

RECENT, NEW YORK CITY

1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations headquarters

23 DECEMBER 2016, NEW YORK CITY

2. Various shots, Security Council vote
3. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Román Oyarzun Marchesi, Permanent Representative of Spain to the United Nations:
“14 votes in favour, one abstention; the draft resolution has been adopted as resolution 2334.”
4. Wide shot, applause
5. Med shot, Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Samantha Power, Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations:
“Today the Security Council reaffirmed its established consensus that settlements have no legal validity. The United States has been sending a message that the settlements must stop, privately and publicly for nearly five decades, through the administrations of Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama.”
7. Med shot, Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Amr Abdellatif Aboulatta, Permanent Representative of Egypt to the United Nations:
“Egypt found itself compelled to withdraw its own draft resolution. This was procedural because of the pressures that the draft has met since it was tabled in blue. This led to even a warning by some members of the Security Council. This is utterly unacceptable in form and substance in view of firm Egyptian positions that cannot be placed in doubt pertaining to legitimate Palestinian rights.”
9. Med shot, delegates
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Danny Danon, Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations:
“By voting yes, in favour of this resolution, you have in fact voted no. You voted no to negotiations, you voted no to progress and a chance for better life for Israelis and Palestinians, and you voted no to the possibility of peace.”
10. Med shot, delegates
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Riyad Mansour, Permanent Representative of Palestine to the United Nations:
“The resolution adopted reaffirms the Council’s decades-long position that Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian Territories, including East Jerusalem, the eternal capital of the state of Palestine, is one, have no legal validity; two, constitute flagrant breaches under international law, namely the fourth Geneva convention, and three, constitute a major obstacle to peace, gravely diminishing the viability of the two-state solution, based on the fourth of June 1967 borders and the possibility of realizing it.”
12. Wide shot, Council

Storyline

The Security Council today (23 Dec) adopted a resolution condemning Israeli settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem as a "flagrant violation" of international law.

The resolution received 14 votes in favour and one abstention by the United States, which opted not to exercise its veto power.

US Ambassador Samantha Power told the Council that by adopting the resolution the Security Council had “reaffirmed its established consensus that settlements have no legal validity.”

Power stressed that this was in line with the position shared by the United States, which “has been sending a message that the settlements must stop, privately and publicly for nearly five decades, through the administrations of Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama.”

Ambassador Amr Abdellatif Aboulatta of Egypt, which drafted the original text of the resolution but then withdrew it, said “Egypt found itself compelled to withdraw its own draft resolution. This was procedural because of the pressures that the draft has met since it was tabled in blue. This led to even a warning by some members of the Security Council. This is utterly unacceptable in form and substance in view of firm Egyptian positions that cannot be placed in doubt pertaining to legitimate Palestinian rights.”

The draft resolution was eventually put forward for a vote sponsored by New Zealand, Malaysia, Venezuela and Senegal.

Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon told the Council that “by voting yes, in favour of this resolution, you have in fact voted no. You voted no to negotiations, you voted no to progress and a chance for better life for Israelis and Palestinians, and you voted no to the possibility of peace.”

For his part, Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour said the resolution “reaffirms the Council’s decades-long position that Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian Territories, including East Jerusalem, the eternal capital of the state of Palestine, is one, have no legal validity; two, constitute flagrant breaches under international law, namely the fourth Geneva convention, and three, constitute a major obstacle to peace, gravely diminishing the viability of the two-state solution, based on the fourth of June 1967 borders and the possibility of realizing it.”