US Faces Isolation on Security Council Over Settlements

A surge in settler violence and increased construction and plans for Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Jerusalem have again placed the Obama administration in a tough spot at the UN Security Council, where some of its closest allies Tuesday strongly condemned recent Israeli policies and settlement activities.

While American officials have repeatedly said they oppose Israeli settlement expansion as illegitimate and counter-productive to the peace process, the US administration used its first and only Security Council veto back in February to oppose a resolution condemning Israeli settlement expansion in a 14-1 vote. 

US support for Israel is a sensitive political issue for this administration.Republican opponents have already criticized the White House for its strained relationship with the Netanyahu government, and less than a year away from an election, the administration likely won’t change its position, should the issue once again come before the Security Council as was suggested by some countries Tuesday. 

Calls for Security Council involvement in the conflict come at a time when the US is trying to convince other Council members to support resolutions and sanctions targeting the regimes in Syria and Iran. A US veto to block another lopsided vote against settlements could further damage American standing in the Arab world and hurt administration’s efforts at the United Nations.

In a briefing on the latest developments Tuesday, UN assistant secretary-general for political affairs, Oscar Fernandez-Taranco called Israeli actions a violation of its obligations under the international community’s roadmap for peace.

Taranco said there had been an alarming increase in settlement construction in East Jerusalem, the cities of Shilo, Efrat and Beitar Illit and that after a long period of restraint, Israeli authorities had resumed in December the demolition of Palestinian residential structure in Jerusalem.

Taranco also briefed the Council members on renewed reports of settler violence, which he says have become a systematic occurrence and often take place in the context of anticipated government action against illegal settlement construction. He said that over the past month, mosques in the West Bank, Hebron, West Jerusalem and near Ramallah have been fire bombed and desecrated and that six Palestinians including two children had been injured in other attacks by settlers.

Security Council diplomats issued statements on behalf of larger diplomatic groups and individually after the briefing,  with IBSA ( India, Brazil, South Africa), the Non Aligned Movement (Group of 120 countries) ,  the four European Council members ( France, UK, Portugal, Germany) as well as Russia, each condemning the surge in settler construction and violence against Palestinian civilians. 

 The American delegation at the United Nations did not issue a statement.. 

Speaking on behalf on the four European Council members, British Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant said France, Portugal, Germany and the UK where “dismayed” by the negative developments on the ground, which he said had a devastating effect on the peace process. Lyall Grant urged the Israeli government to reverse course on settlement activity, including in East Jerusalem.

“We believe that Israel’s security and the realization of the Palestinians right to statehood  are not opposing goals. On the contrary, they are mutually reinforcing objectives but they will not be achieved while settlement building and settler violence continues.”

Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said Moscow was also increasingly concerned and frustrated by recent developments, which he said clearly raised human right concerns but also put in question the feasibility of the two state solution. 

“If you look at the map, you start wondering how, even theoretically, two states can be set up in Gaza and West Bank given this new reality.”

Churkin said his country would favor the Security Council using its leverage on the issue of settlements in hopes to encourage real negotiations.

“You can hear people these days say in other contexts: “The international community must act, the security council must act.” he said. “ Why doesn’t it apply to the Israeli-Palestinian track of our diplomatic and political effort? We think it can be done in a way which is not harming Israeli security and interests at all.”

Russia has of late been sharply criticized by US and European governments for blocking a Security Council resolution imposing sanctions on the Syrian government for its crackdown against protesters, although last week Moscow proposed its own draft resolution on Syria which has since been welcomed by European diplomats as a good starting point for negotiations.

Churkin said Israel’s large political coalition make any discussions about possible concessions a complicated for the Israeli government, and that the country’s leadership may need a “gentle prod” from the international community or Security Council to uphold its international obligations.

Both the NAM (Non-Aligned Movement) and IBSA (India, Brazil, South Africa) statements called on Council members to speak out against violations of international law and uphold Security Council resolutions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. 

 Brazilian Ambassador Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti said ending settlement expansion wasn’t a concession “but an obligation as per various resolution per international law”.

 The Brazilian Ambassador said Security Council involvement was required to settle the conflict.

 “The IBSA countries believe the Security Council has an irreplaceable role to play in the peace process, mainly by condemning violence and calling for a complete halt to settlement activity, calling for the implementation of its own resolutions..”

In his report today assistant secretary-general for political affairs Taranco, also detailed the deteriorating security situation in Gaza and Southern Israel. 

Taranco said Israeli forces carried out 13 airstrikes and 9 incursions in Gaza over the past month, resulting in the death of eight Palestinian militants and injuring 24 civilians. 

He said Palestinian militants responded by firing 45 projectiles into Israel after one of the IDF strikes killed two Islamic jihad militants and injured 10 civilians. Israeli officials say the two Jihadist were preparing an attack. He said there was no reported injuries or damage in Israel from the rocket fire from Gaza.

 In the West Bank IDF forces carried out 237 operations,154 civilians injured including 6 children. The operations also resulted in the arrest of over 200 people.

Panel Spars Over Diplomatic Influence Of Post-Nuclear Iran

At a panel of leading foreign policy experts hosted by the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD) on Friday, Ambassador John Limbert, former deputy assistant Secretary of State, declared that Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons won’t significantly alter in influence on the global environment.  

“I heard that the comment that an Iranian nuclear weapon would change everything in the region,” Limbert said. “Well, I’m sure it would change some things, but there are certain things it would not change and Iran would remain essentially isolated and diplomatically weak as it is today.”

Other panel members, however, disagreed with Limbert. 

John Hannah, former national security adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney, said that an Iranian nuclear weapon would greatly increase Iran’s economic and diplomatic global influence.

“With a country as important as Iran - as large as it is, as influential as it is, with as much oil as it has - there could be an awful lot of people flowing back to deal with Iranians,” Hannah said. “That sanctions regime and isolation will, in fact, inevitably erode and eventually disappear.”

Stephen Rademaker, former assistant Secretary of State, echoed Hannah’s sentiments and explained that if Iran had nuclear weapons during their proxy war with Israel in 2006, they would have been more liberal in their tactics against Israel.

“Iran, in that war, had to be restrained,” Rademaker said. “There was a level of escalation beyond which Israel would stop hitting back at Hezbollah, the proxy, and they would hit back at the patron of the proxy.”

“Nuclear weapons change that,” Rademaker continued. “If Tehran has nuclear weapons the ability of Israel to hit back at the patron, the real sponsor of the war, is substantially diminished.”

Limbert, however, claimed that his fellow panelists’ alternate opinion is based on a general misconception of Iran’s power.

After comparing Iran to a backgammon player that improvises frequently, Limbert expressed that, “this lack of contact, this lack of engagement…has led to a distorted image of what they can do and what they are capable of.”

UN Agency: Iran Still Working Towards A-Bomb

Indications are that Iran has been working on technologies specific to nuclear weaponry, says a long awaited report from the UN Nuclear energy agency.

The report from the International Atomic Energy Agency outlines four activities allegedly carried out by Iranian regime it says are relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device and comes as Israeli officials continue public musings about possible military strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities.

The four activities the agency found evidence for are:  

1)Efforts, some successful, to procure nuclear related and dual use equipment and materials by military related individuals and entities

2)Efforts to develop undeclared pathways for the production of nuclear material

3)The acquisition of nuclear weapons development information and documentation from a clandestine nuclear supply network

4)Work on the development of an indigenous design of a nuclear weapon including the testing of components 

The report findings, which had been expected after excerpts where leaked to various news agencies over the past few days, will likely get wide and repeated use as evidence of Iran’s nuclear aims as US and Europe attempt convince the international community to further isolate the regime in Tehran. 

Iranian authorities deny they are developing their nuclear program for military purposes and allege Western countries are using the issue to push their own political interest. 

Iranian broadcaster Press TV says the country’s government has rejected the report as “unbalanced” and “politically motivated”. 

The Russian Federation has reportedly also criticized the IAEA report. Bloomberg News is reporting that an emailed statement from the Russian Foreign Ministry argues that the IAEA findings are politically dishonest, and that the timing of the reports undermines security in the region. 

The IAEA says information for the report was collected from independent sources, IAEA officials, the Iranian government and from more than 10 other unidentified UN member states. 

US to Council Members: Abstain on Palestine Bid

 The United States is pushing hard to avoid a showdown next Friday in New York, where the Security Council is scheduled to announce a decision on Palestine’s application for full UN membership.

Although the United States has repeatedly said it would block any attempt to pass the resolution, the Obama administration wants to avoid using its veto and is asking other Council members to abstain from voting. A US veto of the Palestinian bid would be a significant blow to US standing in the Arab world.

Obama reportedly sent Bosnia Herzegovina leaders a letter this week asking them not to support the Palestinian request.

Palestinian leaders would need at least 9 votes in favor of the resolution from the Council’s 15 members to force a US veto. China, Russia, Lebanon, Brazil, India and South Africa have all said they would support Palestinian membership.

A UN diplomat has told the BBC that France, Colombia and the United Kingdom have already let the Security Council know they would abstain from voting, while Germany has indicated it would not support the Palestinian request, without saying if it would abstain or vote no.

The US would need two of the remaining four members; Bosnia,Portugal, Nigeria and Gabon, to abstain or vote no in order to avoid having to use its veto.

On Monday UN member states overwhelmingly voted to accept Palestine into UNESCO, forcing the US to cut off all of its funding to the organization. Current American law calls for the defunding of any UN organization that  accepts Palestine in its membership.

 Israel has responded to Palestine ascension to UNESCO by announcing it would speed up settlement construction in the West Bank and Jerusalem and stop payment of of the tax revenue it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority.

The Palestinian  envoy at the United Nations Riyad Mansour condemned Israel’s response and said he would ask the Security Council to intervene. UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and officials at the US state department have both said they are concerned by Israel’s decisions.

The Obama administration used its first and so far only veto at the Security Council in February, when it was the lone Council member to oppose a resolution condemning Israeli settlement construction.

UNESCO Recognizes Palestine, Loses US Funding

Palestine today gained membership in UNESCO, a move that will likely bolster the Palestinian Authority’s bid for full membership in the United Nations but also put an end to American funding of the organization. 

Current American law calls for the defunding of any UN entity that grants Palestinians membership. 

Members of the agency, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, voted to admit Palestine despite attempts by the Obama administration to convince the international community to oppose it. The vote was 107 members in favor, 14 against and 52 abstentions

 “We sincerely regret that the strenuous and well-intentioned efforts of many delegations to avoid this result fell short” David Killion US Ambassador to UNESCO said after the vote.

State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland told reporters today the US would withhold 60 million dollars from UNESCO in 2011.

Palestinian admission to UNESCO comes weeks after the House Foreign Affairs Committee approved a bill to drastically change the way the US funds the United Nations and its agencies. 

Committee Chairman and bill sponsor Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), one of Israel’s strongest supporters in Congress, has repeatedly called on President Obama to counter Palestinian efforts at the United Nations by withholding funding. 

“Today’s reckless action by UNESCO is anti-Israel and anti-peace. It rewards the Palestinian leadership’s dangerous scheme to bypass negotiations with Israel and seek recognition of a self-declared ‘Palestinian state,’ and takes us further from peace in the Middle East.This is only the beginning. The Palestinians will now seek full membership in other UN bodies.” Ros Lehtinen said in a statement released earlier today.

“Existing U.S. law mandates that we cut off funding to any UN body that approves such a request. The Administration must stop trying to find ways not to fully implement this law, and instead cut off funding to UNESCO immediately. And Congress must pass pending UN reform legislation to cut off funding to any UN entity that grants any upgraded status to ‘Palestine.’ “ 

 Palestine’s request for full membership at the United Nations was presented to Secretary General Ban Ki Moon during the UN General Assembly in September and is in the process of being reviewed by a special UN Security Council committee. The committee is expected to report back to Council members on November 11th.