(Photo: Realtingley/Flickr)

“The Obama administration made the decision that Israel had gone too far,” Phyllis Bennis told Press TV concerning the United States’ abstention from a UN Security Council vote on Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Allowing the resolution to go through was a very important shift, Bennis said, with long term effects.

“It provides a legal framework for those countries where there has been significant civil society pressure to impose sanctions on settlement-produced goods,” Bennis said.

Bennis said the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement has been working to get European countries to prohibit the sale of Israeli produce. This resolution, Bennis said, urges countries to distinguish between “Israel proper”and the occupied territories of 1967.

“That’s not the end of the story, but it’s a very important first step,” Bennis said.

Watch the full interview on Press TV.