The United States has blocked an attempt to get the United Nations Security Council to condemn Israel’s demolition of Palestinian homes on the outskirts of Jerusalem.
Citing 17 Palestinians who would be displaced by the destruction, UN officials had called on Israel to halt the plans.
But Israel continued undeterred, saying the 10 apartment buildings it demolished last week had been built illegally, and posed a threat to Israeli armed forces along the occupied West Bank.
Watch: https://www.insidepolitic.org/israeli-forces-cheer-as-they-blow-up-west-bank-building-video/
“This is one of the biggest demolitions Israel has carried out on Palestinian buildings in many years and such actions violate the adopted international agreements with regard to the Israeli-Palestine situation,” a statement by SA’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) said.
South Africa, Kuwait and Indonesia had circulated a five-paragraph draft statement to the 15-member Security Council expressing concern and calling on Tel Aviv to stop.
The document warned that the demolition “undermines the viability of the two-state solution and the prospect for just and lasting peace.”
Washington said it would not support the text.
Pretoria further called on the “Israeli Government as the occupying force to immediately and completely halt its plan of forced transfers, evictions, demolitions and confiscations of Palestinian homes.”
The future of Jerusalem, which is home to over 500,000 Israelis and 300,000 Palestinians, is a longstanding international debate.
Palestinians want a state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip with east Jerusalem as the capital, territory captured by Israel in 1967.
