US President-elect Donald Trump is doing exactly what Palestinians and the Arab world need. He is throwing out all the useless, do-nothing “happy talk” about saving Palestine and Jerusalem that has put the Arab and Muslim worlds in a coma. Arabs and Muslims do not see it because their minds are numbed by nearly 24 years of American “happy talk” about Middle East peace, which has failed to deliver on any of its promises.
The days of relying on American largesse to make peace happen is over. Trump’s recent Middle East pronouncements have yanked away the blanket of hypocrisy that has covered and enabled Israel’s steady destruction of Palestine. Instead of reacting with justified indignation to Trump, as we have seen from Arabs and Muslims in all quarters, we should recognize that the Arab world has been romanced into an atrophy of false promises and hope.
A White House official said Obama had taken the decision to abstain in the absence of any meaningful peace process. The resolution, which passed by a 14-0 vote, was met with loud applause in the packed chamber when the US ambassador, Samantha Power, abstained
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/24/israel-rejects-shameful-un-resolution-amid-criticism-of-netanyahu
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/un-security-council-vote-resolution-settlements-west-bank-east-jerusalem-israel-netanyahu-a7493996.html#commentsDiv
The 15-member Security Council voted 14 – 0 on the proposed measure on Friday, with US ambassador Samantha Power raising her hand as the lone abstention – a symbolic break with US policy in the past, which has been to veto similar resolutions.
Lets see if it makes any difference.
The head line should say, when it comes to Israel and her mistreatment of the Palestinians we could care less.