Land israels plans to. Territory in the occupied west bank which the u. N. Is urging israel to abandon now it is carrying on right now representative from vietnam is speaking in about i would say the next 5 to 10 minutes we will hear from the u. S. Representative at the United Nations kelly craft u. S. Ambassador kelly craft that will be interesting obviously the one Security Council member which we know backs israels position of. Already though we have heard from the likes of nickell who is the uns middle east peace envoy. Who is the arab League Secretary general but 1st it was the u. N. Secretary general and tony a good terrace he summed it up in calling for nothing short of israel abandoning its annexation plans. If implemented and accession of course into the most serious violation of International Law grievously harmed the prospect of a to spend solution and the current possibilities of a new will of negotiations. I call on the Israeli Government would ban is an exception class. So has time space out diplomatic editor who is listening to that along with those early speeches we heard james what was your take on it. Well we have the secretary general very strong comments we heard those backed by his man whos based interest in the north and by the secretary general of the arab league no surprise there they have opposed this idea of an exception very strongly for a very very long time because this would be illegal under International Law it goes against the u. N. Security Council Resolutions and the Security Council are all speaking one by one now and i can tell you there are 15 members of the Security Council and 14 strongly support that position from the u. N. Secretary general in fact the british minister for the middle east James Cleverley just said annexation cannot go on all sorts of threat from the British Government that it might take some sort of action but the odd one out of course is the u. S. The u. S. Position very strongly supportive of israel throughout this administration weve seen the decision on the recognition of jerusalem as israels capital weve seen decision on settlement saying that are not necessary legal weve seen the trumpet ministration say that the Golan Heights are part of israel so of course we saw the trunk plan which was the most generous plan to the israeli side of any plan proposed at any point in the last 70 or so years so its pretty clear where the truck ministration is but where is it on the actual idea of annexation the timing and exactly how much might get annexed that is not clear and thats why i think kelly craft the u. S. Ambassador to the u. N. Her speech is going to be interesting and important to see whether any decisions have been made whether there is any new information coming out of washington we know there has been intense diplomacy involving the netanyahu unity government and the trumpet ministration in recent weeks and recent days as the clock ticks towards this deadline of july. I can tell you going back to the time when this was 1st suggested many diplomats thought that this was an election gimmick by by Prime Minister netanyahu because its something that hes tried before but this time around he said no hes serious and hes going to annex Palestinian Land it seems hes going to take permanent political control this isnt the same as settlers taking over palestinian villages this is the israelis declaring that this is their land permanently forever james words and strong words that weve heard today should matter they should count as you pointed out there is that one country the u. S. With its veto in its support of israel what can the Security Council achieve is it is it more about keeping the issue alive than just trying to put pressure on israel in. Well clearly there are some countries that have very very strong on this issue and particularly on the council at the moment you have the South African deputy minister speaking south africa indonesia many of these countries very strongly support the palestinian position so it is possible that countries could take their own unilateral action if fat might matter if it was a bloc for example like the European Union but no sign that the is going to launch any sort of sanctions against israel clearly thats how things normally work in the International System if a country is breaching International Law there are sanctions put in place against that country but under the u. N. Charter which is 75 years old this week there is an exception for permanent members of the u. N. Security council they have a veto in votes and its that veto that has been because the u. S. Is such a close ally of israel has been israels magic card and i think the reason that Prime Minister netanyahu believes he can do what hes going to do and doesnt believe anyones got any power to stop him of course we are only a few months away from a u. S. Election be interesting to see what a buyer you do an administration would say about all of this ok james bases that diplomatic editor more from him to come in the next few hours right now though its hairy for sit in west jerusalem has also been listening. Harry. As i said theres a lot of words and a lot of strong words which should stack up against israel and maybe would worry them bartz with the support of the United States and with the new unity government in place there any concerns for them. Well i think netanyahu in terms of these of these words that youre talking about their words of warning of the kind of calamitous consequences there could be for the region and indeed in some of these speeches for israel should the annexation go ahead in terms of israels own ambitions for better relations with its arab neighbors and the potential for whats nicolo not enough called a descent into chaos in terms of security and social situation in the occupied west bank and that in vision on israel as well but i think these are considerations that netanyahu will himself have been calculating and so the question is whether these very stark warnings will actually make much of a difference move much of a needle within his own personal calculus and i think the answer is probably no and as james was saying the real questions surround what the United States is going to do what its going to signal that it will support in terms of an annexation move and indeed what his partner benny gantz his former rival in 3 elections and now his Coalition Partner and defense minister how he will come on board on the 1st question the United States has been having these talks among senior officials in washington this week about exactly what it plans to do and while the u. N. Security Council Meeting has been going on weve also been hearing from Kellyanne Conway the advisor to President Trump and she has been saying that confirming these talks are being going on and as well as that saying that trump will make an announcement on the u. S. Position on exception didnt clarify whether that would be before or afterwards and also said that in previous instances such as the move of the embassy to jerusalem there were all sorts of dire warnings which didnt then pan out so an indication at least that the United States is preparing potentially to greenlight annexation and as far as benny gantz is concerned his own language. Move significantly closer to netanyahu he was extremely stark in his appraisal of the palestinians not negotiating saying that they were trying to drag israel into their own deep expletive when he talked to military journalists on tuesday and saying that if they didnt come to the table israel would have to move on without them so things are lining up for netanyahu it seems as this july the 1st date starts to get closer and closer harry i will stay with you a moment but forgive me if i interrupt you because the United States ambassador will be speaking shortly so i might just have to cut you off in a 2nd. Just the idea of a 2 state solution if you wouldnt mind because this is something which all the main speakers talked about in the idea of negotiations is that even an idea which has any legs anymore in israel. Well there are some who still cling to it and indeed there are many who feel that without it what is the other option i mean you may remember that the beginning of the Trump Administration he said President Trump newly inaugurated when netanyahu came for his 1st visit in 2017 said 2 states one state i dont really mind whatever the 2 sides one is fine by me but the prospect of a one state solution which could satisfy both sides is still an extraordinarily difficult one to envisage a one state solution that guaranteed full equal rights for all of its inhabitants threatens the prospect of a jewish state which the Israeli Government is entirely committed to in perpetuity the prospect of a one state solution that doesnt guarantee that essentially means to people of 2 different classes many people call an apartheid state in prospect so as far as the 2 state solution is concerned the reason that so many people have been voicing this jury in the Security Council meeting is because really it is seen as the only viable solution to this long running conflict and yet its prospects have been diminishing ever more rapidly in recent years and the the real worry for supporters of a 2 state solution is that this move annexation will irrevocably change it and make it totally impossible to come back from now the question is whether some kind of incremental strategy i think this is the bet that the netanyahu ministration looks keen to make the an incremental strategy of an exciting parts of the occupied west bank very close to jerusalem close to the green line areas of significant israeli population which even under a 2 state solution had been mooted as potential Land Exchange areas which would be israel in the future whether they can do that 1st and ride out the initial. The initial opposition and and decrying of that move internationally and make a significant historical step as far as theyre concerned towards claiming israeli sovereignty on these areas without totally attending the entire situation well thats a very open question because as far as the jordanians are concerned any onyx ation is an exception very much so as far as the palestinians are concerned thats the case and indeed from the european nations the arab nations weve been hearing a similar message harry force that is our correspondent in west jerusalem thank you very much for that what we are covering here and this is the representative from south africa speaking at the moment is a meeting of the United NationsSecurity Council held by t. V. Conference Video Conference on the issue of israels land an accession planned planets land and its ation in the occupied west bank the next speaker on that grid there of well its over 15 because it includes the. Security Council Members and other members of the United Nations plus the israelis and the palestinians we now have kelly craft Us Ambassador to the u. N. And thank you mr matson all for your greeting we appreciate all the hard work you and your team are putting into addressing this continued conflict and i also like to welcome the ministers and the representatives from the arab league to our virtual discussion today peace between the israelis and the palestinians is the primary reason we are gathered here today and President Trump has dedicated some much time and energy into developing the vision for peace. The United States cares deeply about the people in the region and we believe that the status quo hurts both the israelis and the palestinians and that no one benefits from the existing situation a perpetual limbo of separation lost opportunities reliance on foreign assistance and repeated cycles of violence war and destruction that is why our team has dedicated 3 years to finding a way forward for the past failed attempts to an alternate path towards peace and resolution to the conflict President Trumps vision for peace as a genuine effort at peacemaking it is designed to lead the sides to a realistic 2 state solution offering a viable path to Palestinian Statehood and which palestinians legitimate aspirations for independence and National Dignity can be realized in a Peace Agreement with israel President Trump stated on january 28th i was saddened by the fate of the Palestinian People they deserve a far better life they deserve a chance to achieve their extraordinary potential end of quote. It takes courageous israeli leadership to make the tough decisions and compromises to reach a settlement this is the path to peace we must support with respect and understanding in an effort to make this happen without dismissing the hard work put in by dedicated peacemakers over the years i think we can all agree that past efforts have not brought the sides closer to peace there has been countless dollars spent International Conferences and un resolutions and statements on the issue but little real progress. We believe that only both thinking at this juncture as laid out in the vision of peace what ultimately be the benefit of the israeli and Palestinian People we understand that there are elements of our vision that some believe should be adjusted and we clarified on many occasions it is never been our intent to impose a solution again i ask that the International Community and the palestinian leadership not dismiss our vision out of hand and revert to past statements and arguments that have not lead to real peace i believe it is our collective responsibility for both the people of israel and the citizens of a future palestinian state to keep an open mind and willing to break with the existing paradigms to seek resolution to this conflict i understand that many of you have concerns with this issue of the potential extension of israeli sovereignty in the west bank at the same time we ask that you also hope palestinian leadership accountable for acts they are responsible for it doesnt help anyone to look backwards and point to what could have been the palestinian leadership has a responsibility to pursue the prosperity of their people at the end of the day is reverting to old talking points the best we can do as an International CommunityUnited Nations t. V. Archives contains multiple gatherings such as today i think we can do better actually you know what i know we can do better and i think we owe it to the future generations of palestinians and israelis to break the cycle and be a catalyst for change so again we urge the palestinian leadership to look closely at our vision and engage us as we said before our plan its not a take it or leave it its not set in stone its an opening offer it is the beginning of a conversation not the end of one. All of the diplomats lined up here today will have presented or has presented their passionate speeches however not addressing the core issue here the need for palestinians and israelis to Work Together whether it is condemning settlement activity or any other common criticism the repetitive rhetoric we see in these meetings only and finds tensions antagonizes the parties and undercuts any chance of real lasting peace the hard truth is not that there will never be a judicial resolution to the conflict and arguments about who has wrong as a matter of international off will not bring about peace this is a complex political problem that can only be solved by negotiations between israeli and palestinians the United States under the leadership of President Trump is addressing this core issue by offering the beginning of a conversation and i reiterate the beginning of a conversation we remain open to speaking with anyone about how to bring these parties to the table and we both urged and welcome any and all engagement thank you. Telegraphed to the u. S. Ambassador to the United Nations one of well all of the speakers that you see on screen a Security Council meeting in the age of covert 19 where everything is done virtually and that is how they are holding this Security Council open meeting today on the issue of israels plans to land in the occupied west bank so all members of the Security Council speak what we heard there was one of the most important speakers you could say to say the u. S. Ambassador to the u. N. Alan fischer as our correspondent who is at the white house and was listening to that allan as i say this meeting is supposed to be specifically about the issue of land i only actually caught one ref