Ninety percent of Congress sent a clear message to President Obama – back off of Israel.
House Republicans and Democrats united in urging President Barack Obama to reject any one sided actions by the United Nations attempting to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that are biased against Israel, a move Obama is reportedly considering.
In a letter sent to Obama on Thursday, authored by Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY) and signed by 394 including Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, House members warned that one-sided initiatives may come up at the UN in the coming months. They say the proposals should be vetoed because they could “dangerously hinder” the prospects of the two sides resuming the direct negotiations that are key to resolving their differences.
“We are deeply troubled by reports that one-sided initiatives may arise at the UN in the coming months concerning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” the letter says.
“Such efforts dangerously hinder the prospects for resuming direct negotiations,” the lawmakers wrote. “We therefore urge you to continue to insist that it is only at the negotiating table – and not at the UN – that the parties can resolve their complicated differences. Your continued commitment to longstanding US policy to veto one-sided UN Security Council resolutions remains fundamentally critical.”
Rep. Nita Lowey. (AP/J. Scott Applewhite)
The letter calls on the administration to refuse support for “counterproductive efforts aimed at imposing a solution on the parties” and to oppose “and, if need be, veto one-sided United Nations Security Council resolutions.”
It also expresses frustration over the “lack of significant progress toward a lasting peace” between the two sides.
The 394 members account for nearly 90 percent of the House of Representatives.
“I feel very confident– when just under 400 members of Congress, Democrats and Republicans, express their position with great clarity– that the administration will read the letter,” Lowey told the Jerusalem Post. “Maybe they’ll read this letter very carefully.”
The White House is reportedly working on plans to force Israel, against its national interests, to accept a diplomatic resolution with the Palestinians before Obama leaves office, including a possible UNSC resolution that would outline a deal between the Israelis and Palestinians and which includes the partition of Jerusalem, Israel’s capital.
According to the reports, the White House’s plans are aimed at offering a blueprint for future Israeli-Palestinian talks in a bid to advance a critical foreign-policy initiative that has made little progress during Obama’s two terms in the White House.
The strongest element on the list of options under consideration is US support for a UNSC resolution calling on both sides to compromise on key issues, something Israel had opposed and Washington has repeatedly vetoed in the past, because it would force Israel to accept terms which would damage its national security and other interests.
By: AP and United with Israel Staff
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