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Israel didn’t comply with UN call to stop settlements

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Israel took no steps to comply with a Security Council call to stop all settlement activity in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, and instead authorized “a high rate” of settlement expansions in violation of international law, the United Nations said Friday.

U.N. envoy Nickolay Mladenov told the council the large number of settlement announcements and legislation action by Israel indicate “a clear intent to continue expanding the settlement enterprise in the occupied Palestinian territory.”

He was delivering the first report to the council on implementation of the resolution it adopted in December condemning Israeli settlements as a “flagrant violation” of international law. The resolution was a striking rupture with past practice by President Barack Obama who had the U.S. abstain rather than veto the measure as president-elect Donald Trump demanded.

The resolution didn’t impose sanctions on Israel, so the council isn’t called on to take any action. But it does enshrine the world’s disapproval of the settlements.

Mladenov, the U.N. special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, reiterated that the United Nations “considers all settlement activities to be illegal under international law and one of the main obstacles to peace.”

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