Four countries reportedly issued Egypt with an ultimatum threatening to bring forward a UN Security Council resolution demanding a halt to Israel’s illegal settlement activity if Cairo does not reintroduce the draft.
In a note New Zealand Venezuela Malaysia and Senegal gave Egypt until the end of Thursday to clarify how it intended to proceed Reuters reported.
“In the event that Egypt decides that it cannot proceed to call for vote on 23 December or does not provide a response by the deadline those delegations reserve the right to table the draft … and proceed to put it to vote ASAP” the note read according to the report.
Egypt announced that it was taking the resolution off the table in a surprise move Thursday after Israelis lobbied frantically for it to be shelved following indications that the US would not exercise its veto over the resolution and allow it to pass.
Diplomats and officials indicated that Egypt came under heavy pressure from officials in Israel as well as US President-elect Donald Trump apparently drafted by high-level officials in Jerusalem into leaning on Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.
“The proposal for other delegations to take the lead… would also help Egypt by relieving it of the burden of carrying this draft alone” the note further read.
A meeting was planned for Friday morning for diplomats to discuss how to proceed.
The draft resolution demands that Israel stop settlement activities in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem and declares that all existing settlements “have no legal validity” and are “a flagrant violation” of international law.
After Egypt pulled the resolution Arab ambassadors held an emergency meeting at the United Nations to press Egypt to move ahead with a vote but an Arab League committee decided after meeting in Cairo to continue talks on the fate of the motion.
A senior Security Council diplomat earlier suggested that the motion could be buried indefinitely.
“There was a window of opportunity. Whether that window is still there is really not clear” said a Western diplomat.
Israel’s ambassador to the UN praised the move to delay the vote but expressed worries it could come back up.
After efforts to lobby Washington to change its mind failed furious Israeli officials reportedly threatened to reach out to Trump and eventually did leading the incoming US president to issue a statement echoing an earlier one made by the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calling on the US to veto the resolution.
Trump also spoke to Sissi about the resolution an official in Cairo said and the Egyptian president seemed to support the contention that passing a resolution like this just before Trump took office could tie his hands.
“The presidents agreed on the importance of affording the new US administration the full chance to deal with all dimensions of the Palestinian case with a view of achieving a full and final settlement” presidency spokesman Alaa Yousef claimed according to Reuters.
