UN envoy: Israel defies UN resolution on halting settlements

By EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Mideast envoy says Israel continued its defiance of a 2016 U.N. Security Council resolution demanding an immediate halt to all settlement activity in lands the Palestinians want for their future state, advancing plans for construction of nearly 2,000 housing units in the last three months. And Tor Wennesland told the council Wednesday that no progress was made by Israelis and Palestinians on other demands in the resolution. They include preventing all violence against civilians, refraining from acts of provocation, incitement and inflammatory rhetoric, distinguishing between Israeli territory and territories occupied since the 1967 war, and launching “credible negotiations.”