News

The US is considering abstaining from a possible UN
Security Council resolution against Israeli settlement expansion in East
Jerusalem, the BBC has learned.

The possibility surfaced at
talks in Paris last week between a senior US official and Qatar's
foreign minister.

The official said the US would "seriously
consider abstaining" if the issue of Israeli settlements was put to the
vote, a diplomat told the BBC.

The US usually blocks Security
Council resolutions criticising Israel.

But
relations between the allies have been severely strained by the
announcement of plans to build 1,600 homes in an East Jerusalem
settlement during a recent visit to Israel by US Vice-President Joe
Biden.

The move prompted the Palestinians to pull out of the
US-brokered indirect "proximity talks" that had only just been agreed in
a bid to revive the peace process, which has been stalled for more than
a year.

Nearly half a million Jews live in more than 100
settlements built since Israel's 1967 occupation of the West Bank and
East Jerusalem. They are held to be illegal under international law,
although Israel disputes this.

Guarantee sought

The
exchange between the US official and Qatar's foreign minister came to
light during a meeting at an Arab League sum... >>>