D2. U.S. AMB. to the un Susan Rice, Explanation of the U.S. Vote on the Unsc Resolution on Condemning Continuing Israeli Settlements, New York, 18 February 2011.

Ambassador Rice made the following statement to the UN Security Council in effort to explain how the United States could veto a draft resolution (see Doc. A4 above) reaffirming the illegality of Israeli settlements that had been carefully crafted to use wording from previous U.S. official statements on the subject under consideration. The text was taken from the United States Mission to the United Nations Web site at usun.state.gov. For background on the resolution and the U.S. veto, see Graham Usher's “Letter from the UN” in this issue