To return to the new Peace Now website click here.

APN Press Release: US Veto at UN: Missed Opportunity for Leadership

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
                     
February 18, 2011                       

CONTACT:  Ori Nir
(202) 408-9898
       
onir@peacenow.org

 

Settlements Resolution Veto: Missed Opportunity for U.S. Leadership

 

Washington, DC - Americans for Peace Now (APN) today expressed disappointment at the Obama administration's veto of a UN Security Council resolution supporting the peace process and the two-state solution and condemning Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
 
Reacting to the US veto, APN's President and CEO Debra DeLee said: "President Barack Obama missed a key opportunity today to demonstrate U.S. leadership on peace. America's failure to hold both sides accountable for their actions is a contributing factor to the state of the peace process today. When America doesn't lead, developments take on a momentum of their own.

 

"We are dismayed that America, Israel, the Palestinians, and all stakeholders in Mideast peace have reached this painful and utterly avoidable moment. We would not be here today if Israel's Netanyahu government had stopped settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, as the Obama Administration begged Israel to do. And we would not be here today if President Obama had matched his policy to his rhetoric during his first two years in office.

 

"What happened today is not just about an American veto of a resolution that is consistent with longstanding U.S. policy. The fact that the Palestinians went ahead and brought the resolution to a vote demonstrates the degree to which the Palestinians and the international community have lost faith in the peace process, and in U.S. leadership of that process.

 

"This should be a wake-up call to the administration. For the sake of Israel and for the sake of U.S. interests in the region and beyond, President Obama must take dramatic action to restore faith in the peace process and in America's leadership of that process. It is not too late for the Obama administration to show real leadership, to push both sides to negotiate peace in earnest, to show the parties that intransigence comes at a price, and to submit bridging proposals or even its own plan for a final settlement of the conflict.