BICOM

The Palestinian representative to the United Nations (UN) has called on the UN Security Council to take serious action against Israel over settlement construction.

At a UN Security Council debate on the Middle East yesterday, Riyad Mansour said: “The global calls for cessation of Israeli settlement activities and crimes against the Palestinian people must be backed with serious, practical measures to compel Israeli compliance with the law.”

He added: “There must be consequences if Israel continues to violate international law.”

AP reports that Mansour has been “sounding out” the 15 Security Council members over a potential new resolution on Israeli settlements. He will apparently report back to the Arab Ministerial Committee, which is expected to meet in Egypt’s capital Cairo before the end of the month, to decide on next steps.

During the debate, Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon spoke out against “calls for a one-sided resolution against Israel”. Underscoring Israeli claims of institutional bias within UN institutions, Danon pointed to a UNESCO resolution ratified this week which appears to question any Jewish connection to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. He said: “These attempts to cut us off from our homeland and our heritage will not succeed.”

It has been reported that there are concerns among Israeli leaders that in the period between next month’s US election and the end of his term in office in January, President Obama will increase pressure on Israel to make concessions and may relax Washington’s traditional policy of vetoing UN Security Council resolutions which are hostile towards Israel.

The UN’s special coordinator for Middle East peace, Nickolay Mladenov, also spoke at yesterday’s session. He warned that “the absence of progress” towards peace “has strengthened radicals and weakened moderates on both sides”. He said: “We must all avoid the risk of sleep-walking into another violent conflict.”