Egypt delays UN resolution on Israel as Trump raises concerns

Egypt has suddenly delayed a vote on its UN resolution condemning Israeli settlements in the West Bank as Donald Trump made his opposition clear.

According to the BBC, a US official had said that it had been considering an abstention, which would have allowed the motion to pass.

Reuters news agency reported that the move prompted Israel to ask President-elect Donald Trump to apply pressure.

Egypt's resolution called for Israel to stop building new settlements, which it said breached international law. It was to have been voted on in the UN Security Council on Thursday, but Egypt withdrew it hours before the meeting was due to start.

Diplomats said Cairo had acted under pressure from Israel and to avoid alienating Trump, who spoke to the Egyptian President and urged the White House to use its veto.

The United States, which holds a veto at Security Council, has traditionally sheltered Israel from condemnatory resolutions by voting them down.

"Israelis deeply appreciate one of the great pillars of the US-Israel alliance: the willingness over many years of the United States to stand up in the UN and veto anti-Israel resolutions," said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier.

"I hope the US won't abandon this policy."

But there had been speculation that the Obama administration might change that strategy in the President's final month in office and allow Egypt's resolution condemning Israel to pass by abstaining from voting in the Security Council.

Earlier on Thursday, Trump had urged the Security Council to defeat the resolution.

In a statement, the US President-elect 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.

Donald Trump urged the Security Council to defeat the resolution

"This puts Israel in a very poor negotiating position and is extremely unfair to all Israelis."