Barack Obama

Dear Friends,

As the year ends, and as the Palestine-Israel 'peace process' lays dormant, the United Nations Security Council voted to sanction Israel for its illegal settlement policy in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. What was most significant about this vote was that the United States chose not to veto the resolution; instead it abstained.

US Secretary of State John Kerry, in a long speech, delivered the most obvious verdict for the situation on the ground - namely that if Israel rejects a two-state solution, then the only alternatives are permanent occupation or a democratic,