Breaking Update: Obama Tells Abbas He Will Veto Anti-Settlement Resolution

As alluded to this morning, Palestinian President Abbas has indeed rejected the Obama compromise Security Council action and is insisting on a vote of the original resolution which says

"Israeli settlements established in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, are illegal and constitute a major obstacle to the achievement of a just, lasting and comprehensive peace."

That spurred a phone call from President Obama who told the "moderate" terrorist that the United States will indeed veto the resolution as it now stands.  According to the Jerusalem Post, the presidential phone call has thrown the Palestinian side into a bit of chaos.

“Following the phone conversation, President Abbas invited members of the PLO Executive Committee and the Fatah Central Committee to an emergency meeting to discuss the latest developments that were raised between the president and Obama,” the spokesman added.

Sources in Ramallah said that the phone conversation dealt with the PA’s plan to seek a United Nations Security Council resolution condemning construction in the settlements. They said that Abbas rejected Washington’s demand not to go to the Security Council.

The sources said that Obama made it clear to Abbas that the US would veto such a resolution so as not to jeopardize efforts to resume peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

Nabil Sha’ath, member of the PA negotiating delegation, said on Thursday that the PA leadership was determined to pursue its efforts to obtain a resolution condemning the construction in the settlements despite heavy pressure from the US.

Sha’ath said that the US Administration has offered the PA to abandon its plan to seek a resolution on the settlements in return for a statement that would be issued by the Security Council and that would condemn the construction without holding a vote.

The fact that the Obama Administration proposed this compromise it shows how little they have learned about the region during the past two years. If this report in the JPost is true the irony is that it was the Obama administration that hyped the settlements as a primary issue in the Israel/Palestinian dispute, and now that it has become a UN resolution he will vote against it.  

Obama's mistake is not vetoing the Palestinian resolution, his mistake was not understanding what he was doing when he made the settlements an issue a year and a half ago.  This is just another example of the failure of Obama's foreign policy.