Settlements under fire at UNSC in advance of Trump peace plan

United Nations Security Council member are expected to condemn Israeli West Bank settlement activity at an informal meeting in New York on Thursday in advance of the anticipated publication of US President Donald Trump’s peace plan.

The Arria-formula meeting, titled “Israeli Settlements and Settlers: Core of the Occupation, Protection Crisis and Obstruction of Peace,” was organized by Indonesia and coincides with Israeli Independence Day.

Among those expected to participate in the meeting are Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Maraud and his Palestinian counterpart Riyad al-Maliki.

Other speakers will include legal experts John Quigley, Emily Schaeffer Omer-Man and Mohammed Khatib, as well as James Zogby, who is the president of the Arab American Institute.

Fourteen of the 15 UNSC member are opposed to Israeli settlement building and have spoken out against any US peace plan that would deviate from a two-state solution based on the pre-1967 lines. The US, which is a permanent UNSC member, has been vocally opposed to settlement building under past administrations.

The Trump administration, however, has not followed the same pattern of condemning Israeli settlement activity.

Israel’s ambassador to the UN Danny Danon said in response to the UNSC meeting that “the Palestinian leadership repeats the same lies against Israel while it continues to pays salaries to terrorists. This policy has only led to more UN discussions, but not to a future for its people. The international community must renounce the PA’s culture of terrorism and incitement, and not condone this policy.”

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