Israel saw no US veto on UN resolution, contacted Trump

Jerusalem: Israel appealed to US President-elect Donald Trump for help in preventing a UN Security Council resolution against Israeli settlements since the Obama administration would not veto it, an official said Friday.

"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 said on condition of anonymity.

Egypt on Thursday requested that the vote be postponed, one day after submitting the draft text to the council, after Trump called President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, according to the Egyptian presidency.

Trump, who had campaigned on a promise to recognise 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.

A similar resolution was vetoed by the United States in 2011.

President Barack Obama's administration has expressed mounting anger over the continued expansion of the Jewish outposts and speculation has grown that he could launch a final initiative before leaving.

Israeli settlements are seen as a major stumbling block to peace efforts, as they are built on land the Palestinians see as part of their future state.

The draft 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.