US House members urge Obama to block anti-Israel resolution at UN
The majority of the US House of Representatives have signed a letter to President Barack Obama voicing their support for Israel, according to one of the letter’s lead sponsors.
394 members of the 435-member House signed the letter sent to Obama on Thursday, urging him to use US veto power to block any United Nations resolutions perceived to be biased against Israel, US Representative Nita Lowey said Friday.
The letter came as the Palestinians are discussing with Arab countries a new draft resolution against Israel’s unlawful expansion of settlements in the occupied territories.
On Saturday, Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations Riyad Mansour said the motion would clarify the UN Security Council (UNSC) position on Israeli settler units, which are considered as illegitimate and an impediment to the so-called peace process.
The United States vetoed a similar resolution in the Security Council five years ago. The 2011 resolution called for the condemnation of Israel’s illegal settlements as well as a halt to the Tel Aviv regime’s construction activities in the occupied lands.
The draft gathered an overwhelming support of 14 out of the council’s 15 members, but the United States used its veto to block the measure.
Now, the congressional letter supported a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but maintained that the only path to peace is negotiations between the two sides, not United Nations action or an international conference.
"The only way you can get there is if the two parties can be brought together and really go over all the issues," Lowey said, according to Reuters.
She said she had not had any response to the letter, but hoped the Obama administration officials were carefully reading it.
In March, the US Congress was delaying a payment of $159 million in aid for the Palestinian Authority (PA) to pressure it into negotiations with Israel, according to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) envoy to Washington.
The US administration allocated $440 million in aid to Palestinians for 2015, including $131 million for economic and development projects and $70 million for PA agencies, while $80 million in aid was deducted following Israeli criticism of "incitement" by the Palestinians last October, Ma’an reported.
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