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Egypt has suddenly delayed a vote on its UN resolution condemning Israeli settlements in the West Bank as Donald Trump intervened in the debate.
A US official told the BBC that it had been considering an abstention, which would have allowed the motion to pass.
An Israeli official later told Reuters the country had contacted Donald Trump's transition team to intervene.
Egypt's resolution called for Israel to stop building new settlements, which it said breached international law.
The United States has traditionally sheltered Israel from action at the UN Security Council, where it holds a veto.
But there had been speculation that the Obama administration might abandon that strategy in his final month in office and allow the resolution to pass by abstaining.
Earlier on Thursday, Mr Trump had urged the Security Council to veto the resolution.
In a statement, he said "peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians will only come through direct negotiations between the parties, and not through the imposition of terms by the United Nations.
"This puts Israel in a very poor negotiating position and is extremely unfair to all Israelis."
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Both Israeli officials and the Egyptian president spoke with Mr Trump, it emerged After the postponement of the vote, an Israeli official told Reuters news agency that it had warned the Obama administration in advance that it would appeal to the president-elect if the US abstained, and confirmed that it had directly asked Mr Trump to intervene.
Egyptian President Abdel al-Sisi also spoke to Mr Trump by telephone. In a statement, Mr Sisi's office said the two leaders had agreed the new US administration should be given a chance to deal with the issue.
However, four other members of the security council warned that if Egypt did not press ahead with its resolution before the end of Thursday, other member states would do so.
New Zealand, Venezuela, Malaysia, and Senegal said they reserved the right to move ahead with the vote.
None of the four are permanent members of the council, but are serving two-year terms.
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A US official told the BBC that it had been considering an abstention, which would have allowed the motion to pass.
An Israeli official later told Reuters the country had contacted Donald Trump's transition team to intervene.
Egypt's resolution called for Israel to stop building new settlements, which it said breached international law.
The United States has traditionally sheltered Israel from action at the UN Security Council, where it holds a veto.
But there had been speculation that the Obama administration might abandon that strategy in his final month in office and allow the resolution to pass by abstaining.
Earlier on Thursday, Mr Trump had urged the Security Council to veto the resolution.
In a statement, he said "peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians will only come through direct negotiations between the parties, and not through the imposition of terms by the United Nations.
"This puts Israel in a very poor negotiating position and is extremely unfair to all Israelis."
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Both Israeli officials and the Egyptian president spoke with Mr Trump, it emerged After the postponement of the vote, an Israeli official told Reuters news agency that it had warned the Obama administration in advance that it would appeal to the president-elect if the US abstained, and confirmed that it had directly asked Mr Trump to intervene.
Egyptian President Abdel al-Sisi also spoke to Mr Trump by telephone. In a statement, Mr Sisi's office said the two leaders had agreed the new US administration should be given a chance to deal with the issue.
However, four other members of the security council warned that if Egypt did not press ahead with its resolution before the end of Thursday, other member states would do so.
New Zealand, Venezuela, Malaysia, and Senegal said they reserved the right to move ahead with the vote.
None of the four are permanent members of the council, but are serving two-year terms.
Related Topics
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