"The Security Council is expected to vote Friday on the draft. Should the vote take place, it will be the first time the United States has used its veto power since Barack Obama assumed the presidency."The Obama administration is exerting great effort to get the Palestinians to withdraw the proposal. Several days ago U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had a phone conversation with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in an attempt to sway him, and the U.S. ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, met Tuesday with ambassadors of several Arab countries, emphasizing that the U.S. has an interest in a compromise that will make a veto superfluous."The draft uses the relatively moderate language that the "Quartet" of Middle East peace negotiators - the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations - have used in previous statements on settlements." From Ha'aretzUPDATE: "U.S. is the only Security Council member that opposes the resolution; though its wording does not conflict with Washington's stance on settlements it fears that if the resolution passes it will be an obstacle to renewal of peace talks." Really? An obstacle? Again our friends at Ha'aretz tell us what the MSM in the U.S. overlooks.MORE: "The Obama administration is clearly desperate to avoid vetoing the United Nations Security Council Resolution condemning illegal Israel settlements. And it's not hard to see why." MJ Rosenberg fingers the politics.AND MORE: Bipartisanship!!! Cantor and Hoyer agree: "House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) are pressing forward with their effort to urge President Obama to veto a resolution at the U.N. Security Council that would declare any post-1967 Israeli settlements, including East Jerusalem, illegal." HT: MJ RosenbergAND FINALLY: "UNITED NATIONS The United States used its veto on Friday afternoon to block a Security Council resolution declaring Israel's settlement construction in the West Bank illegal. The other 14 members of the council voted in favor of the resolution." Here.

Margaret O’Brien Steinfels is a former editor of Commonweal. 

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