Obama warns Trump against 'unilateral moves' on Israeli-Palestinian conflict

In his final press conference with members of the media, President Barack Obama explained the US decision on the UN Security Council resolution that condemned illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian territory. He also warned Donald Trump from making any "sudden, unilateral moves" on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

He said "the status quo is unsustainable” not just for Israel and Palestine, but also for the US and the region as a whole.

Obama added that his administration did not “see an alternative” to a two-state solution and that abstaining from the UN Security Resolution helped maintain hope for peace talks between the two countries.

The Council voted in late December through a non-binding resolution - proposed by New Zealand and Senegal - that Israel's settlements breached international law.

The US abstention from the Security Council vote paved the way for its adoption with the support of the other 14 members.

The vote was the first time in 40 years that a resolution voted against Israel's settlement activity through the UN Security Council.

In addition to talking about the UN Security Council resolution, Obama warned his successor Donald Trump against any "sudden, unilateral moves" on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in an apparent reference to his plan to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

"The president-elect will have his own policy," Obama told reporters in his final news conference, two days before leaving office.

"But obviously it's a volatile environment. What we have seen in the past is when some unilateral moves are made that speak to some of the core issues and sensitivities of either side, that can be explosive."

Chelsea Manning

Obama also defended his decision to commute most of Chelsea Manning’s prison sentence.

"With respect to Chelsea Manning, I looked at the particulars in this case the same way I have with the other commutations I have done and pardons I have done and felt in light of all the circumstances that commuting her sentence was entirely appropriate," Obama said.

Manning was convicted in August 2013 of espionage and other offences, after admitting to the leak of 700,000 sensitive military and diplomatic documents.

"It has been my view that given she went to trial, that due process was carried out, that she took responsibility for her crime, that the sentence that she received was very disproportionate relative to what other leakers had received and that she had served a significant amount of time, that it made sense to commute and not pardon her sentence," Obama said

"Let's be clear, Chelsea Manning has served a tough prison sentence," the president added. "I feel very comfortable that justice has been served." 

The cache of documents leaked by Manning included military logs from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and diplomatic cables offering sensitive - and often embarrassingly blunt - assessments of foreign leaders and world events.