News from Jerusalem

U.S. says U.N. not the right forum for resolving Israeli-Palestinian issue
Peace settlement can only come from direct talks
U.S. has veto power over resolution

New York, Jan. 21 -- A UN Security Council resolution condemning Israeli building in parts of the country is counterproductive to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, U.S officials have said, adding that they are working to prevent it coming to the floor.

“We do not think that New York or the UN Security Council is the right forum for this issue, and we’ll continue to make that case,” Philip J. Crowley, assistant secretary for the U.S. State Department said after the resolution was brought forward this week. The United States has not yet said whether it would veto the measure, which was introduced this week by Brazil, Lebanon and South Africa. The United States is one of five Security Council countries with veto power.

The resolution calls for Israel to stop building in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. The United States has not allowed such a resolution to pass since the Carter administration (1977-1981).

US Deputy Ambassador Rosemary DiCarlo told a Security Council meeting that “…permanent status issues can be resolved only through negotiations between the parties and not by recourse to the Security Council. We therefore consistently oppose attempts to take these issues to this council and will continue to do so as such action moves us no closer to the goal of a negotiated final settlement."

Palestinian officials also have begun a push for unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state and have said they plan to put the matter before the United Nations in September.

Analysts say achieving a lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians is very complicated. They share power grids, water, resources and there are security issues affecting both sides.

Lasting peace can only come through negotiations that settle all the outstanding issues to the satisfaction of both sides with mutual respect and security.

The Palestinians left the negotiating table at the end of September after just a few weeks. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas refused to continue the talks following the expiration of a voluntary 10-month construction freeze in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

Israeli officials have said direct talks are the only way to reach an agreement.

"If we don't negotiate, how will we ever be able to get an agreement?" Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said recently. To do otherwise, Palmor said, is tantamount to “breaching the whole framework that has allowed us to negotiate so far."

The United States echoed that sentiment in a resolution the U.S. House of Representatives approved in December that called on Palestinians to stop their course of one-sided statehood.

The members of the Quartet on the Middle East – the U.N., U.S., EU and Russia - are scheduled to meet Feb. 5 in Munich to find ways to move Israeli-Palestinian talks forward. “Efforts to bring Israelis and Palestinians to engage seriously on final status issues will be at the top of the agenda when the Quartet meets,” U.N. political affairs chief B. Lynn Pascoe said Wednesday (Jan. 19).

The Israel Project