WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The recent adoption of a UN Security Council resolution that condemned Israel for building settlements in the West Bank is a grave impediment to reaching peace in the region, the nominee US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said during her confirmation hearing before the US Senate on Wednesday.
"UN resolution 2334 was a terrible mistake making a peace agreement with Israelis and Palestinians even harder to achieve," Haley told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
On December 23, 2016, the UN Security Council voted 14-0, with the United States abstaining, to pass a resolution calling on Israel to immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the West bank and east Jerusalem.
The US decision to abstain from the vote broke with a long tradition of Washington using its veto power at the Security Council to back its close ally Israel.
The Israeli authorities criticized the resolution and refused to abide by its provisions.
