Did Hell just froze over? Because i feel like it did ...

UN passes resolution on ending Israeli settlements

4 UN Security Council members vote in favour as US abstains in demanding Israel halt settlements on Palestinian land.

The UN Security Council has voted in favour of a resolution demanding the halt of settlement activity by Israel on occupied Palestinian territory with the United States notably abstaining.

The resolution was put forward at the 15-member council for a vote on Friday by New Zealand, Malaysia, Venezuela and Senegal a day after Egypt withdrew it under pressure from Israel and US president-elect Donald Trump.

Israel and Trump had called on the United States to veto the measure.

It was adopted with 14 votes in favour, to a round of applause. It is the first resolution the Security Council has adopted on Israel and the Palestinians in nearly eight years.

The United States' abstention was the biggest rebuke in recent history to longstanding ally Israel, allowing the Security Council to condemn its settlements and continuing construction in Palestinian territory as a "flagrant violation" of international law.

The resolution said Israel's settlements on Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, have "no legal validity."

Egypt: Trump convinced Sisi to withdraw UN resolution

It demanded a halt to "all Israeli settlement activities," saying this "is essential for salvaging the two-state solution".
Analysis: UNSC vote on Israeli settlements postponed

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi had backtracked on the move to condemn Israel's settlement policy on Thursday after receiving a phone call from US President-elect Donald Trump, who spoke out in favour of a US veto.

Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon said his government had expected a US veto of "this disgraceful resolution".

"I have no doubt that the new US administration and the incoming UN secretary general will usher in a new era in terms of the UN's relationship with Israel," said Danon.

Israeli settlements are seen as a major stumbling block to peace efforts, as they are built on land the Palestinians see as part of their future state.

The United Nations maintains that settlements are illegal, but UN officials have reported a surge in construction over the past months.

Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz accused the US of abandoning Israel by abstaining.

"This is not a resolution against settlements, it is an anti-Israel resolution, against the Jewish people and the state of the Jews. The United States tonight has simply abandoned its only friend in the Middle East," Steinitz, who is close to Netanyahu, told Channel Two News.

Some 430,000 Israeli settlers currently live in the West Bank and a further 200,000 Israelis live in East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians see as the capital of their future state.

The passage of the resolution changes nothing on the ground between Israel and the Palestinians and likely will be all but ignored by the incoming Trump administration.

But it was more than merely symbolic.

The resolution formally enshrined the international community's disapproval of Israeli settlement building and could spur further Palestinian moves against Israel in international forums.

Trump is likely to be a more staunch supporter of Netanyahu's right-wing policies. He named a hardline pro-Israel ambassador and vowed to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Before the vote a senior Israeli official said if adopted there was "zero chance" the Israeli government would abide by the measure. Under the UN Charter, UN member states "agree to accept and carry out the decisions of the Security Council".