Four UN council members issue Egypt ultimatum on settlements

High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini (C) attends the EU foreign affairs council at the European Council, in Brussels on November 14, 2016 [Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu]

New Zealand, Venezuela, Malaysia and Senegal told Egypt on Thursday that if it did not clarify by midnight whether it planned to call a vote on a draft UN Security Council resolution demanding an end to Israeli settlements, then they reserved the right to move ahead with the text, diplomats said.

“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,” the four council members said in a note to Egypt, seen by Reuters.

The Palestinians were also a party to the note, which said “there was a strong sense of disappointment” that the 15-member Security Council had not voted on the text as planned on Thursday.

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