U.N. resolution criticizing Israeli settlements delayed

NEW YORK — A vote on a United Nations Security Council resolution criticizing Israeli settlements in the West Bank scheduled for Thursday was delayed amid uncertainty over the U.S. position on the proposal and calls by U.S. Presidentelect Donald Trump for a veto.

The U.N. vote, initially scheduled for 3 p.m. EST Thursday, was delayed with no confirmation of when it will now take place, according to four officials with knowledge of the discussions who agreed to speak on condition of anonymity.

The White House and State Department had declined to say how they would vote on the resolution, which would have declared all Israeli settlements illegal under international law and demanded that the country cease construction in the West Bank and other territories captured in the 1967 Middle East war.

Specifically, the draft text circulated by Egyptian diplomats said the establishment of settlements has “no legal validity and constitutes a flagrant violation under international law and a major obstacle” to a “just, lasting and comprehensive peace” between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had called for the U.S. to reject the proposal.

“It’s bad for Israel; it’s bad for the United States; and it’s bad for peace,” Netanyahu said in a statement.

The U.S. has vetoed similar resolutions in previous years and the Obama administration has generally shied away from branding the Israeli settlements as illegal, preferring to call them “illegitimate.”

Earlier on Thursday, Trump issued a statement calling for the U.S to exercise its veto, saying the resolution “puts Israel in a very poor negotiating position and is extremely unfair to all Israelis.”