The Curious (and Ongoing) Case of Egypt's Anti-Settlement UN Resolution

"Egypt... introduced an anti-settlement resolution, and it was scheduled to be voted on at the UN Security Council within hours, on Thursday evening... [D]ramatic news followed on Thursday late afternoon. Egypt had reconsidered, and did not want its resolution voted on after all - not on Thursday, and perhaps not any time after Thursday, either... Theoretically, the resolution could be proposed again... Friday, anytime. The Security Council doesn't even take a Christmas vacation. The only relevant deadline is the US presidential transition. After January 20, a US veto is a dead cert.

'The delay of the vote is an important step. However, we realize that this issue is not yet resolved,' Israel's ambassador the UN, Danny Danon, told The Times of Israel on Thursday night, as the foreign ministers of Arab League member states deliberated on how to proceed. 'We are continuing our diplomatic efforts on all fronts to ensure that this disgraceful resolution will not pass the Security Council.'...

Egyptian diplomats, meanwhile, indicated on Thursday night that the Palestinians had blindsided the Arab Group at the UN by rushing to bring the text to a vote on Thursday. Cairo had wanted to circulate the draft among Arab leaders and schedule the vote only in January, these diplomats intimated. The relevance of such a delay is hard to fathom: The Security Council's composition will change with the new year, to Israel's slight advantage, but an anti-settlements resolution would still be expected to garner the required nine out of 15 'yes' votes to pass, and until January 20 it would still be Obama's decision, not Trump's, on whether to veto.

The suspense is not over. The Egyptian resolution could yet return. If not, New Zealand - whose two-year term on the council ends next week - could introduce its own version. And should Wellington pass, incoming council member Sweden might gladly take its place as the proud sponsor of a resolution condemning the settlements."