Egypt: Trump should have chance to end Mideast conflict
Statement from Sissi’s office says the two ‘touched on’ vote on UN settlements resolution, which Cairo delayed hours earlier
CAIRO, Egypt — Egypt said its president received a call from President-elect Donald Trump in which they both agreed to give the incoming US administration a chance to try and resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The call came hours after Egypt indefinitely postponed a UN vote on its Security Council resolution criticizing Israeli settlements, following pressure from Israel and Trump, who had called on members to veto it.
A statement from the Egyptian presidency said the two men spoke by phone early Friday and agreed on “the importance of giving a chance for the new American administration to deal in a comprehensive way with the different aspects of the Palestinian issue with the aim of achieving a comprehensive and a final resolution” to the decades-old conflict.
Egypt requested Thursday that its resolution demanding Israel halt settlements be postponed after Jerusalem launched a frantic lobbying effort.
An official in Jerusalem later Thursday accused the Obama administration of attempting a diplomatic ‘hit’ against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the settlements by planning to let the resolution pass, and a second Israeli source said the administration, in its final days, was violating a “core commitment” to defend Israel at the UN.
“After becoming aware that the (US administration) would not veto the anti-Israel resolution, Israeli officials reached out to Trump’s transition team to ask for the president-elect’s help to avert the resolution,” an Israeli official told AFP on Friday.
“The [Trump] phone call touched on the draft resolution before the United Nations Security Council on Israeli settlements,” a statement from Sissi’s office said.
The resolution demands that “Israel immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem.”
It states that Israeli settlements have “no legal validity” and are “dangerously imperilling the viability of the two-state solution” that would see an independent Palestinian state exist alongside Israel.
Trump, who had campaigned on a promise to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, bluntly said Washington should use its veto to block the resolution.
“The resolution being considered at the United Nations Security Council regarding Israel should be vetoed,” he said in a statement.
Sissi, a former military chief who overthrew his Islamist predecessor Mohammed Morsi in 2013 in a move condemned by President Barack Obama, has expressed admiration for Trump.
He told the Financial Times in a recent interview that he was “very optimistic” about Trump.
“President-elect Trump is tackling terrorism with more resolve and seriousness and that’s exactly what’s needed now,” he said.
Meanwhile, four members of the Security Council on Thursday gave Egypt a midnight deadline to push ahead with the resolution, saying they would bring it for a vote if Cairo stood by its decision to delay.
“In the event that Egypt decides that it cannot proceed to call for vote on 23 December or does not provide a response by the deadline, those delegations reserve the right to table the draft … and proceed to put it to vote ASAP,” wrote New Zealand, Venezuela, Malaysia and Senegal in a note they presented to Egyptian officials, according to Reuters.
The four were set to meet on Friday morning to discuss next steps.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report
The Times of Israel Community.