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DECEMBER 21, 2016 Wed : (HAWAII : OBAMA “REACTION” TO EGYPT RESOLUTION CONDEMNING ISRAELI SETTLEMENTS) On Dec. 21, amid his morning workout, an afternoon round of golf and a family dinner with friends, President Obama interrupted his Hawaii vacation to consult by phone with his top national security team in Washington. Egypt had introduced a resolution at the U.N. Security Council condemning Israeli settlements as illegal, and a vote was scheduled for the next day.
The idea had been circulating at the council for months, but the abrupt timing was a surprise. Obama was open to abstaining, he said on the call, provided the measure was “balanced” in its censure of terrorism and Palestinian violence and there were no last-minute changes in the text.
Skeptics, including Vice President Biden, warned of fierce backlash in Congress and in Israel itself. But most agreed that the time had come to take a stand. The rapid increase of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, despite escalating U.S. criticism, could very well close the door to any hope of negotiating side-by-side Israeli and Palestinian states. Pending Israeli legislation would retroactively legalize settlements already constructed on Palestinian land.—— How the U.S. came to abstain on a U.N. resolution condemning Israeli settlements, Washington Post, Dec. 28, 2016, Karen DeYoung
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This must have been in the works for a long time, it wasn’t just a “big surprise” for Obama and the US.
1 posted on ?12?/?28?/?2016? ?10?:?07?:?55? ?PM by Innovative
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The time had come for him to take a stand - when he wouldn’t have to deal with the consequences.
21 posted on ?12?/?28?/?2016? ?10?:?33?:?06? ?PM by lepton