Obama's Betrayal of Israel at the UN Must Not Stand

"President Barack Obama's ill-advised decision to order the U.S. to abstain on a United Nations resolution condemning Israeli settlements breaks with past U.S. policy, undermines a vital ally and sets back the cause of Middle East peace...

The resolution, passed last week, says Israeli settlements built on land occupied since the 1967 war have 'no legal validity.' It thus brands the one-tenth of Israel's Jews who live in East Jerusalem and the West Bank as residential outlaws, and could thereby strengthen the effort to sanction or boycott Israel, or even sue it in international bodies.

Previous U.S. administrations have vetoed such resolutions for just that reason, and for undermining the course of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. As Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer correctly noted in condemning the administration's decision, the 'fervently anti-Israel' UN is 'the wrong forum' for Israel and the Palestinians to settle their differences.

By abandoning past U.S. practice, Obama is encouraging the Palestinians in their belief that they can leverage the UN in their effort to achieve statehood...

If the Palestinians want a lasting peace based on a two-state solution, they must accept that Israel, not the UN or the 'international community,' is their negotiating partner..."