Egypt delays vote on settlements after Israeli pressure, Trump tweet

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

WORLD NEWS | Thu Dec 22, 2016 | 5:23pm EST

Egypt delays vote on settlements after Israeli pressure, Trump tweet

By Michelle Nichols and Jeffrey Heller | UNITED NATIONS/JERUSALEM

Egypt postponed a U.N. Security Council vote on Thursday on a resolution demanding an end to Israeli settlement building and diplomats said Cairo had acted under pressure from Israel and to avoid alienating U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.

A vote would have forced U.S. President Barack Obama to decide in his last month in office whether to shield Israel with a veto, or, by abstaining, to register criticism of the building on occupied land that the Palestinians want for a state.

Obama has been considering whether to lay out parameters for an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement or to allow a critical resolution through the Council before he steps down in the hopes this might ultimately help to end the conflict.

U.S. officials have voiced growing fears that a "two-state" solution is imperiled by Israeli settlement building and so have been more willing to voice open criticism of it.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-palestinians-un-idUSKBN14B033

[geek tragedy]

1. Sisi got rolled by Israel.

Also shows already how aggressively pro-Israel Trump is going to be.

Palestinians can't be surprised that Sisi didn't have their back.