he United States appeared to surprise the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) by sending one of its key architects of the soon-to-be unveiled US plan for Israeli-Palestinian peace, Jason Greenblatt, to an informal meeting on illegal Israeli settlements on Thursday.
Greenblatt, who flew from Washington, lashed out at the meeting, accusing the three cochairs, including Indonesia, of hosting an “anti-Israel bias” forum.
“What are we achieving when we continue to gather for meetings like this where we condemn the behavior of Israel, who is not even invited to speak at the session? [The meeting] itself is surprising and unfair, instead of looking forward and trying to come up with realistic solutions,” Greenblatt said.
Thursday’s informal session, also known as an Arria Formula meeting, was initiated by Indonesia, which holds the rotating UNSC presidency this month, and was also hosted by South Africa and Kuwait as cochairs.
Indonesia in particular invited Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki to speak in the forum.
Greenblatt criticized the UNSC for “rehashing tired talking points” with it choosing to talk about “700 resolutions” instead of confronting the “700 rockets” fired by Palestinian terrorists at “small and brave” and “thriving, diverse economically vibrant democracy” Israel.
“We can keep pretending meetings like this will improve lives and peace, but they won’t. […] It is time for a new approach,” said Greenblatt, who has been helping US President Donald Trump’s senior advisor and son-in-law Jared Kushner in formulating the US peace plan.
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