RAMALLAH, Saturday, December 18, 2021 (WAFA) – Palestine welcomed today a United Nations General Assembly vote in favor of a resolution affirming the permanent sovereignty of the Palestinian people in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem, and for the Arab people in the occupied Syrian Golan, over their natural resources.

Palestine’s Foreign Minister Riyad Malki said in a statement that the vote affirms the right of the Palestinian people and their sovereignty over their natural resources, including land, water and energy, stressing that the Israeli occupation has no sovereignty over the Palestinian territories or any of the occupied cities.

He called on Israel, the occupying power, to stop exploiting the natural resources in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, or destroying them, causing their loss or depletion, and endangering them.

He also called on the international community to compel Israel to implement international resolutions and to guarantee the freedom of the Palestinian people to benefit from their natural resources, and their right to demand compensation for exploiting, damaging, losing, or depleting their natural resources, or endangering them in any way or form.

The vote yesterday by 156 countries in favor and seven opposed, while 15 countries abstained, called on the UN Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly at its next session a report on the implementation of this resolution, provided that this report includes the cumulative effect of the Israeli exploitation of the Palestinian natural resources.

In addition, it affirms that the construction of the apartheid wall and settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including in and around East Jerusalem, constitutes a violation of international law and Security Council resolutions, including 2334.

Malki thanked the countries that voted in favor of the resolution, and called on those that voted against or those that abstained to reconsider their positions and take into account the provisions of international resolutions that guarantee the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to their land.

M.K.