Hatnua leader Tzipi Livni, who is set to run on a joint ticket with Yitzhak Herzog’s Labor party in the upcoming March elections, said she was proud to have “guarded Israeli interests” at the UN in convincing the US to postpone a vote at the Security Council on the recognition of Palestinian statehood.
All we need is love: Livni, Netanyahu, Kerry, Steinitz, and Eylon. (Photo: US State Department)
A joint statement released Saturday, December 20, by the Labor and Hatnua parties stated that “Livni [consistently] opposed any attempt by the Palestinians to impose a new reality on Israel by taking unilateral steps. This was her consistent approach, in public, and in private to the Americans, and this is her stance today.”
The announcement came only hours after the magazine Foreign Policy reported that US Secretary of State John Kerry told his European counterparts to hold off on the Palestinian UN bid. Kerry justified the postponement based on the recommendations of Livni and former president Shimon Peres, who told him international pressure on Israel would only “play into the hands of the right-wing camp led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.” On Saturday, Livni and Herzog were largely taking credit for the fact that the US has been blocking progress in bringing before the Security Council the Palestinian bid urging recognition and an Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 lines. “Livni is proud to have preserved key Israeli interests at the Security Council. Israel’s security interests can be safeguarded with the right policy, which can only come to pass if Herzog and Livni form the next government coalition,” read the statement.
Earlier, Foreign Policy reported that at a recent annual luncheon with the 28 European Union ambassadors, Kerry said that a UN vote before Israeli elections would only benefit those who oppose the peace process, like Netanyahu and HaBait HaYehudi leader Naftali Bennett. Kerry also intimated during the gathering that the US may support a Security Council resolution if the wording were appropriate, but he did not elaborate. According to the report, Kerry said the US would not allow the resolution to come to a vote before the Israeli elections, set for March 17. “Kerry has been very, very clear that, for the United States, it was not an option to discuss whatever text before the end of the Israeli election,” a European diplomat told Foreign Policy.
On Thursday, December 18, the US said it would not support the current resolution put forward by the Palestinians setting the terms for statehood and an Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 lines. Jordan presented the measure on Wednesday to the UN Security Council on behalf of the Palestinians, who said they were open to negotiations on the text. The Palestinian draft resolution sets a 12-month deadline for wrapping up negotiations on a final settlement and the end of 2017 as the time frame for completing an Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 lines. A final peace deal would pave the way to the creation of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as a capital, according to the text.
