The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative
Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other
shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org.
December 23, 2016

Israel and Trump Pressure Egypt to Drop U.N. Resolution on Settlements
----------------------------------------------------------------------

At the United Nations Security Council on Thursday, Egypt abandoned a
resolution that would have ordered Israel to halt the construction of
illegal Jewish-only settlements on occupied Palestinian lands. Egypt's
move came just hours before a planned vote and amid heavy lobbying
against the measure by Israeli officials. The measure was also opposed
by Donald Trump, who took to Twitter to call for a veto of the
resolution. Trump also spoke by telephone with Egyptian President Abdel
Fattah el-Sisi on Thursday. Israeli officials reportedly contacted
Trump's transition team after they learned the Obama administration
might abstain on a vote condemning settlements--a move that would have
cleared the way for the measure to pass.


.