Despite Israeli concerns, Palestinians don’t expect US action over settlements

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told Likud activists that any “unwise conduct” from his government regarding settlements in the period between the US elections and the formal end of Barack Obama’s administration could “endanger the entire settlement enterprise.”

Netanyahu was speaking at a gathering convened at the request of residents of Ofra and Amona settlements, in light of the Supreme Court-ordered evacuation of Amona, and a separate ruling that 10 houses in Ofra were built on private Palestinian land.

An anonymous attendee told Israeli newspaper Haaretz “that Netanyahu stressed to the residents that he sees before him the greater good of the settlement enterprise, and doesn’t wish to damage it over a few homes built on private Palestinian land.”

Netanyahu’s office claimed he “had told settlers in a closed meeting last week he hoped Obama would not act in the same way that some previous U.S. administrations had done at the end of their term, when they had ‘promoted initiatives that did not align with Israel’s interests’.”

The statement “also denied what Israeli Channel 2 had ascribed to Netanyahu earlier on Wednesday when it quoted him as telling the settlers that “in the coming period, between the U.S. elections and the end of the term of Obama – the entire settlement movement is under threat.”

Separately, Haaretz reported Thursday that “both Egypt and the United States have warned the Palestinian leadership not to advance any moves at the UN Security Council until after the U.S. presidential election next month,” citing an unnamed “senior Palestinian official.”

According to the official, “the messages were sent both directly and indirectly to the Palestinian Authority, through Western and Arab intermediaries. The messages stressed that until the U.S. election is over, Washington will veto any resolution on the Israeli-Palestinian issue, including a denunciation of the settlements.”

“Senior Abbas aides”, the paper adds, says Palestinian officials have not got the impression “that the U.S. administration intends to launch any initiatives of its own on this issue or let alone approve a Security Council resolution.”