Press TV- Iran has welcomed a United Nations Security Council resolution that censures�Israel for its settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territories, saying it shows the global resolve to put an end to the regime�s land grab.
�The approval of the recent resolution by the United Nations Security Council despite certain powers� long history of support for the Zionist regime�s [Israel] crimes on�the international scene, particularly by using their veto right at the Security Council, is welcomed as a sign of the international community�s determination to end the Zionist regime�s occupation and restore the Palestinian people�s rights,� Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi said on Saturday.
Iran welcomes any move which would guarantee the realization of the Palestinians� rightful demands, promote�Palestine�s international standing�and oppose�the Israeli regime�s expansionist policies, he added.
He said the Islamic Republic has repeatedly emphasized that the Israeli regime�s settlement measures in the Palestinians� lands are in �complete contradiction with international laws and regulations.�
The Iranian spokesperson said history, however,�shows that the Israeli regime has never been committed to international pacts�and legal obligations.
He hailed the increasing awareness of the international community about the crimes and occupying nature of the Israeli regime.
�We believe that the settlement of the Palestinian issue needs serious and firm efforts by the international community to restore the inalienable�rights of the oppressed Palestinian people and confront�the expansionist and occupying policies of the Zionist regime,� Qassemi said.
�It is expected that the international community, particularly the United Nations, will take effective and fundamental steps in this regard after more than seven decades,� he added.
Resolution 2334 was passed with 14 votes in favor and one abstention -�by the US -�on Friday. It was the first resolution on Israel and the Palestinians that the 15-member body has passed in about eight years.
The text of the resolution had originally been drafted by Egypt, which decided to withdraw it under �intense pressure.�
Israel had asked US President-elect Donald Trump to pressure Cairo to delay voting on the draft resolution. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is believed to maintain good ties with Trump.
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This October 22, 2016, photo shows a general view of the illegal Israeli settlement of Revava, near the occupied West Bank city of Nablus. (Photo by AP)[/caption]After Egypt�s withdrawal, however, Senegal and New Zealand, two other members of the UN Security Council, forwarded a motion of their own for a vote on the text.
The US administration, by abstaining,�decided to break with a long-time policy of vetoing condemnatory resolutions against Israel.
Resolution 2334 condemned Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem al-Quds and the occupied West Bank as a �flagrant violation under international law,� which it said was �dangerously imperiling the viability� of peace and the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Earlier this month, Israeli lawmakers approved a hugely-controversial bill legalizing some 4,000 settler units built on private Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank, in the first of three readings needed to turn it into law.
