United Nations (CNN) -- The United States vetoed Friday a U.N. Security Council resolution that would have declared Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said that while the United States agrees about "the folly and illegitimacy of continued Israeli settlement activity, we think it unwise for this council to attempt to resolve the core issues that divide Israelis and Palestinians".
The veto is the first to be used under the Obama administration.
Ambassador Riyad Mansour, the permanent observer of Palestine to the United Nations, objected to the veto in a statement following the vote.
"The proper message that should have been sent by the Security Council to Israel, the occupying power, is that its contempt of international law and the international community will no longer be tolerated," he said. "We fear, however, that the message sent today may be one that only encourages further Israeli intransigence and impunity. This must be remedied".
Rice noted conversations in recent days between U.S. and Palestinian leaders in an attempt to compromise on the issue of Israeli settlements.
"In recent days, we offered a constructive alternative course that we believe would have allowed the council to act unanimously to support the pursuit of peace," she said. "We regret that this effort was not successful and thus is no longer viable".
Israel praised the veto, saying in a statement that the decision "contributes to the resumption of the diplomatic process and (it) regrets that the other Security Council members have refrained from making the same contribution".
U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday called Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to discuss the resolution and speak about alternatives to a Security Council vote, according to a diplomatic source. Among the options that had been floated, American and Palestinian officials said, was the issuance of a Security Council presidential statement, which is weaker than an actual resolution.
Obama told Abbas that if he didn't withdraw the resolution, it would put the United States in an awkward position and that U.S.-Palestinian relations would suffer as a result, the source said.
"Well, there were attempts at persuasion, (but) let me put it politely: We are even more persuaded by the rights of the Palestinian people," said Hanan Ashrawi, a veteran Palestinian legislator and Palestine Liberation Organization executive committee member. "We are more committed to international law and to the requirements of peace, and all these require that settlement activity should stop and that the Security Council should take a resolution condemning all settlement activities as being illegal and as being in direct contradiction of the requirement of peace". CNN
