UN Security Council to Vote Thursday on End to Israeli Settlements

"The United Nations Security Council is due to vote on Thursday on a draft resolution that would demand that Israel 'immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem.'

Egypt circulated the draft on Wednesday evening and the 15-member council is due to vote at 3 p.m. (2000 GMT) on Thursday, diplomats said. They said it was unclear how the United States, which has protected Israel from U.N. action, would vote.

The White House declined to comment. Some council diplomats hope President Barack Obama, who has had a rocky relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, may allow Security Council action by abstaining on the vote.

In a post on Twitter, Netanyahu said the United States 'should veto the anti-Israel resolution at the U.N. Security Council on Thursday.' The tweet gave no indication whether Israel had been informed of how Washington planned to vote...

Israeli U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon called the draft 'the peak of hypocrisy' and said: 'It is absurd that at a time when thousands are being massacred in Syria, the Security Council is devoting time and energy to convene and discuss condemning the only true democracy in the Middle East.'.."