UNITED NATIONS – The U.S. on Friday vetoed a UN Security Council resolution that would have condemned Israeli settlements as “illegal” and called for an immediate halt to all settlement building.

All 14 other Security Council members voted in favor of the resolution, which was backed by the Palestine Liberation Organization.
Mark Lyall Grant, the British ambassador to the UN, speaking on behalf of his country, France and Germany, condemned Israeli settlements in the West Bank. “They are illegal under international law,” he said.
He added that the European Union's three biggest nations hope that an independent state of Palestine will join the UN as a new member state by September 2011.
Iran raps U.S. for veto
Iran's ambassador to the United Nations also condemned the U.S. for vetoing the resolution.
“The fact that a single vote can revoke the vote of the majority shows the Security Council is structurally weak,” Mohammad Khazaei told Press TV after the council wrapped up voting on the resolution.
“This U.S. move once again undermined the credibility of the Security Council,” the top Iranian diplomat went on to say.
“It is because of such reasons that Iran suggests the United Nations, especially the Security Council, be restructured.”
The top Iranian envoy predicted that the resolution would be passed at the UN General Assembly with an overwhelming majority of votes.
More than 100 co-sponsors
Several EU nations, including Portugal, Slovenia and Sweden, were among the resolution's more than 100 co-sponsors.
New York-based Human Rights Watch issued a statement saying the U.S. veto undermined international law and suggested the Obama administration was being hypocritical.
“President Obama wants to tell the Arab world in his speeches that he opposes settlements, but he won't let the Security Council tell Israel to stop them in a legally binding way,” said HRW's Middle East director, Sarah Leah Whitson.
OIC denounces U.S. veto
On Saturday, the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) denounced the United States for using its veto power to block a United Nations resolution that would have condemned Israeli settlements as being illegal.
'It is a devastating blow to the credibility of international efforts to resume the peace process,' the group said in a statement.
The OIC, which has 57 member states and is headquartered in Saudi Arabia, argued that the U.S. veto will only encourage Israel to continue its violations.
The group also reiterated calls for an immediate freeze to Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The veto by the Barack Obama administration is certain to anger Arab countries and Palestinian supporters around the world.
U.S. veto will encourage Israeli intransigence
The permanent Palestinian observer to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, said the U.S. veto could send the wrong signal to Israel. “We fear ... that the message sent today may be one that further encourages Israeli intransigence and impunity,” he said.
Mansour declined to comment on media reports that Obama warned Abbas of repercussions if the Palestinians did not withdraw the draft resolution.
“The Palestinian leadership has decided to proceed to the UN Security Council, to pressure Israel to halt settlement activities. The decision was taken despite American pressure,” said Wasel Abu Yousef, a PLO executive member.
The Palestinian Authority earlier on Friday decided to insist that the resolution be put to the council, and rejected the U.S. compromise offer despite a telephone call from Obama to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday, Reuters reported.
Al Jazeera's Cal Perry in Ramallah, West Bank, said the decision is “not going down well in the occupied West Bank”.
“People are really wondering when some action is going to be taken,” he said.
“People here are tired of a lack of a peace process; they are tired that the two sides are not talking; they are tired that they continue to hear, especially the U.S. president Barack Obama continue to say that human dignity cannot be denied.
“He's been saying it all throughout the protests in Egypt; he's been saying it all through the protests that continue to sweep across the region and the Palestinian people are saying: 'What about us?'“
'Goldstone 2'
“Caving in to American pressure and withdrawing the resolution will constitute Goldstone 2,” said a Palestinian official, speaking on terms of anonymity before the meeting.
He was referring to the wave of protest in October 2009 accusing Abbas of caving in to U.S. pressure by agreeing not to submit for adoption a UN report that accused Israel and Hamas of war crimes during the invasion of Gaza two years ago.
Abbas maintains he insisted on submitting the report.
The Palestinians say continued building flouts the internationally-backed peace plan that will permit them to create a viable, contiguous state on the 1967 land, after a treaty with Israel to end its occupation and 62 years of conflict.
Israel says this is an excuse for avoiding peace talks and a precondition never demanded before during 17 years of negotiations, which has so far produced no agreement.
The diplomatic standoff is complicated by the effects of Middle East turmoil on the Arab League, whose members backed the resolution.
Egypt, a dominant member, and Tunisia are preoccupied with their transitions from deposed autocracies, and protests are flaring in Libya, Yemen and Bahrain.
Washington is trying to revive peace talks stalled since September over Israel's refusal to extend a moratorium on settlement building and Abbas's refusal to negotiate further until the Israelis freeze the illegal buildings.
Photo: In this photo released by the United Nations, 14 members of the UN Security Council vote in favor of a draft resolution condemning Israeli settlement activity, Friday, Feb. 18, 2011. (AP photo)